Utah Historical Quarterly Volume 41, Number 1, 1973

UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY EDITORIAL STAFF MELVIN T. SMITH,

Editor

G L E N M. LEONARD, Managing

Editor

MIRIAM B. M U R P H Y , Assistant

Editor

ADVISORY BOARD OF EDITORS T H O M A S G. ALEXANDER, Provo S. GEORGE E L L S W O R T H ,

Logan

DAVID E. MILLER, Salt Lake City LAMAR PETERSEN, Salt Lake City HAROLD SCHINDLER, Salt Lake City JEROME S T O F F E L , Logan

The Utah Historical Quarterly is the official publication of the Utah State Historical Society and is distributed to members upon payment of the annual dues: institutions, $7.00: individuals, $5.00; students, $3.00 (with teacher's statement). Single copies, $2.00.

The primary purpose of the Quarterly is to publish manuscripts, photographs, and documents contributing new insights and information to Utah's history.

Manuscripts and material for publication — accompanied by return postage — should be submitted to the editor. Review books and correspondence concerning manuscripts should be addressed to the managing editor.

Membership applications and change of address notices should be addressed to the membership secretary. Utah State Historical Society, 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102.

Phone (801)^328-5755.

The Society assumes no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by contributors.

The Utah Historical Quarterly is entered as second-class mail and second-class postage is paid at Salt Lake City, Utah.

HISTORICAL

QUARTERLY

W I N T E R 1973 / V O L U M E 41 / N U M B E R 1

Contents IN THIS ISSUE "BOOK A—LEVI MATHERS SAVAGE": THE LOOK OF UTAH IN 1873 .

.

CHARLES S.

THEOLOGY ON THE LANDSCAPE: A COMPARISON OF MORMON AND AMISH-MENNONITE LAND USE

REVIEW

FOLKLORE AND HISTORY: FACT AMID THE LEGENDS

.

ORSON PRATT AS A MATHEMATICIAN

RAITZ

2:;

WILLIAM R. LINDLEY

35

WILLIAM A. WILSON

40

EDWARD R. HOGAN

59

KARL B.

HARD-ROCK JOURNALISM: BURT BREWSTER AND THE

.

PETERSON

. .

THE BRIEF CAREER OF YOUNG UNIVERSITY AT SALT LAKE CITY

D.

MICHAEL

QUINN

69 90

BOOK REVIEWS

102

BOOK NOTICES

105

RECENT ARTICLES

111

HISTORICAL NOTES

T H E C O V E R The look of Utah at any period in its history is both distinctive and endlessly interesting.

This view of Center and Second West streets in Provo shows a modern city emerging from a pioneer town ca. 1890. Mill race is in the for ground. Utah State Historical Society photograph by George Taylor Studios.

© Copyright 1973 Utah State Historical Society

E L L S W O R T H , S. GEORGE,

Utah's

Heritage

DAVID E. M I L L E R

FOWLER, D O N D., ED., "Photographed

90

All

the Best Scenery': Jack Hillers's Diary of the Powell Expeditions, 1871-1875

.

.

.

.

WILLIAM C. DARRAH

WILLIAMS, GLYNDWR, ED., Peter

Skene

Ogden's Snake Country Journals, and

1828-29

.

.

.

H A F E N , L E R O Y R., ED., The

and the Fur Trade

91

.

1827-28 T E D J. WARNER

Mountain

92

Men

of the

Far West

A. P. NASATIR

ANDERSON, RICHARD LLOYD, Joseph

93

Smith's

New England Heritage: Influences of Grandfathers Solomon Mack and Asael Smith

.

.

.

.

MARIO S. D E P I L L I S

TODD, EDGELEY WOODMAN, ED., A Doctor

93

on

the California Trail: The Diary of Dr. John Hudson Wayman from Cambridge City, Indiana, to the Gold Fields in 1852

DONALD C. C U T T E R

96

Books reviewed

BONNER, T H O M A S D., The Life and of James

P. Beckwourth

.

Adventures ALTON B. OVIATT

97

REIGER, J O H N F., The Passing of the Great

West: Selected Bird

Grinnell

Papers of George .

BAILEY, PAUL, Polygamy

.

.

DAVID E. A T K I N S O N

Was Better

Monotony

Westerners

Than L A M A R PETERSON

T H O D E , J A C K S O N C , ED., The

Brand Book .

1970

.

99

99

Denver

L E R O Y R. HAFEN

100

W E B S T E R , PAUL, AND T H E EDITORS OF T H E

AMERICAN W E S T , The Mighty

Portrait of a World

Sierra:

Mountain RICHARD W. M O Y L E

101

In this issue One hundred years ago Levi Mathers Savage penned a frank but private appraisal of the "peculiar clap of humanity" found in his native Utah. The twenty-two-year-old Mormon diarist observed Utahns at home along his route from Toquerville to Kamas. He worked with them in a, "Chamois" Valley lumbering operation about to succumb to a depressed economy, and he observed a nominal celebration of Pioneer Day in Nephi. Like photographer Charles E. Watkins, who preserved the image of Salt Lake City in the 1870s reproduced above, Savage let something of himself get into the picture he captured on paper.

Savage's candid commentary introduces us to both the man and to his people.

Two of the articles following Savage's diary in this issue also examine Utah society. In one, a geographer studies land use for evidence of cultural patterns.

In the other a folklorist draws historical insights from the oral traditions of the people. In addition, this issue looks at the brief life of a little-known educational institution and at the workings of the minds and personalities of a mathematician and a journalist.

From the complex stream of Utah society, the scholar can identify main currents which give meaning to the past through the perspective of a broad interpretation. History lives also in singular experiences, in the unique, in the person who—despite his individuality—speaks for a little of what is found in every person.

•fe

1:. W: '

"BookALevi Mathers Savage": The Look of Utah in 1873 EDITED BY CHARLES S. PETERSON

Levi Mathers Savage

5

A N MANY WAYS 1873—one hundred years ago—was not an auspicious year for Utah. Without the goad of Johnston's army or of some threatening piece of antipolygamy legislation Utahns of that year paid little heed to its course of affairs. But here and there evidences crop up suggesting that 1873 was a year of considerable interest if not of first line importance. Among these evidences is a diary by Levi Mathers Savage from which relevant extracts are presented below. A young Mormon from the southern Utah town of Toquerville, Savage recorded his impressions of the Utah he saw around him as he traveled from Dixie to Salt Lake City and as he did a four-month stint in a sawmill camp east of Kamas.

Enjoying the hindsight of a century, modern observers can see a number of things about 1873. The initial adjustments to the advent of the transcontinental railroad had been made. Railroad trackage was spreading through the territory. The Utah Central was well established. The Utah Northern and the Utah Southern along with local feeder lines had pushed well into the mining and agricultural hinterlands. Utah mining which was sufficiently rewarding to enable its promoters to raise the bonanza cry was spreading through much of the territory and into neighboring districts of Nevada. During much of the year railroading and mining provided a level of remunerative employment not often enjoyed as well as markets for agricultural goods and timber products.

Many of Utah's villages had passed through the first stages of pioneering. Indian wars seemed to be at an end and more thought and time were now available for home improvement and matters of civic concern. Utah's farms were beginning to produce a surplus of farm goods which were being shipped to the gold fields in the Intermountain states and California. Livestock was on the verge of a quarter-century' boom that saw Utah become a great livestock producer and suffer an irreparable depletion of its grazing resources.

Salt Lake City was taking on the airs of a mining and transportation center. It boasted a street car system, fine hotels—one with Dr. Peterson is associate professor of history and director of Man and His Bread Museum at Utah State University. The diary is reproduced here with the kind permission of the John Savage family association.

Levi Mathers Savage.

Courtesy of Albert J. Levine.

6

Utah Historical Quarterly

accommodations for three hundred fifty people—the famous sulphur baths, two institutions of higher education—Morgan's Commercial College and the University of Deseret—at least four banks and many other amenities. In its early months 1873 appears to have been prosperous.

Among other things attracting the attention of Salt Lake City's daily papers were: the first typewriters to appear in Utah, brisk sales of carriages, and business leases bringing up to $100 per frontage foot.

Until September Utah promoters could rhapsodize about the future with some confidence. Calling the territory the "rising star of the continent" one editor went so far as to predict a doubling of the population in the coming year.1 Visitors often reflected this optimism and joined in the sounds of praise. One, a member of a touring group of agricultural editors, admired Salt Lake City's setting, its industrious citizenry, its streets, irrigation system, homes, and its farmers' market and other facilities of distribution."

However, after word of Jay Cooke and Company's collapse and the great Wall Street Panic was received in mid-September sounds of promotion and admiration were muted by an overburden of anxiety.

On the other hand the Panic of 1873 struck only minor chords in Salt Lake City newspapers and other contemporary sources while the continuing themes of the Mormon conflict received full orchestration.

News of the Panic was in every day's paper, but it was in the main news from distant places. Evidence of its local impact is sparse, and a somewhat forced optimism prevailed in the Salt Lake City press. The fact that people were anxious is apparent in editorials of assurance.

One Salt Lake City bank closed its doors on October 1 after several days of heavy run on its currency reserves but denied that it was going out of business. Other banks appear to have fared better. A number of enterprises died aborning during the first months of the Panic. Such a one was Iron County's Great Western Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company boasting a proposed capital stock of two million dollars.

With its projected subsidiary the Iron Mountain and Utah Valley Railroad it made brave sounds of beginning in the weeks before the Panic but no more was heard of the development after September 20. But in the main the press of 1873 suggests that the Panic had only minor effects upon Utah.

1 2

Salt Lake Tribune, August 27, 1873.

Deseret News, August 4, 1873.

Levi Mathers Savage

7

Edward L. Sloan's Gazet[t]eer of Utah and Salt Lake City Directory for 1874 shows even less evidence of the impact of the Panic of 1873 than do the period's newspapers. Its tone and the very fact of its publication suggest that business is booming and the future rosy.5 If contemporary sources yield only meager information, secondary sources offer little more. Nineteenth-century Utah writers were almost universally preoccupied with the Mormon conflict. Modern sources point to the Panic's effect in sweeping generalizations but add little in the way of detail.

It is in the light of this short fare that the diary extracts presented here make a contribution. Levi M. Savage was remote—in both personal and financial circumstances—from the halls of finance, but the spirit of pessimism that pervades his diary after the Panic broke is not to be mistaken. His reaction and that of his fellows also suggests that the Panic had a substantial influence on the activities and fortunes of many Utahns.

But Savage's diary does more than throw light on the Panic of 1873. He took a close look at the Utah of his era. In it he saw evidences of material and moral strength—and in it he saw evidences of material and moral weakness. And while he is very much the product of his society he is frank and honest in what he records. As reflected through his diary the Mormon church is strong—both as an organization and in its effect upon its adherents. The church he reveals is setting its face to a great new colonizing venture, one that ultimately carried Mormon settlements into Colorado, New Mexico, and Mexico as well as to Arizona, which was the immediate object of the 1873 colonizing effort.

In addition to its organizing capacities Savage's church engendered great though by no means absolute enthusiasm and idealism.

Savage's 1873 diary—"Book A"—is a product of the sense of mission stirred in one Mormon by his call as an Arizona colonizer.

It is evidently his first effort as a diarist. With a few interruptions he kept a diary for the rest of his life. The original of the 1873 diary is owned by Joseph Savage, a son living in Chandler, Arizona. Copies are at the Utah State Historical Society and the University of Utah library.

Like the year 1873 Levi Mathers Savage was in many ways inauspicious, but his diary gives a rare glimpse into our past. The pages ''See Gazet[t]eer of Utah, and Salt Lake City Directory, 1874, ed. Edward L. Sloan, (Salt Lake City, 1874.) For an excellent treatise on early Utah gazetteers see Glen M. Leonard, "R. W. Sloan's 1884 Gazetteer: Boosting Utah's 'Glorious and Imperishable Future,' " Utah Historical Quarterly, 40 (Spring 1972), 163-77.

8 t h a t follow r e p r e s e n t most directly to t h e c a t e d w i t h ellipses. t u a t i o n a n d spelling

Utah

Historical

Quarterly

s o m e t h i n g less t h a n half t h e total d i a r y a n d relate look of U t a h in 1873. Omissions h a v e b e e n indiSome p a r a g r a p h i n g has been changed, but puncof t h e original h a v e b e e n r e t a i n e d .

BOOK A TOKERVILLE K A N E C o T E R R Y OF U T A H U.S.

J U L Y FOURTH

(4) 1873 I Levi Mathers Savage, have this day concluded to keep a Journal. . . .

I was born at Sugar House Ward Salt Lake City in this Territory on the 11th (eleventh) day of January 1851 (eighteen hundred and fifty one) My Fathers name is Levi Savage Jr. and my Mothers name was Jane Mathers. My fore fathers on my Fathers side first came to America in 1759 with General Wolf at the time he took Quebec from the French. Have not got the origin in America of my Mothers folks. . . .

In December 29th day 1851 my Mother died near Salt Lake.

In the fall of 1852 My father started on a mission to the East Indies leaving me with my Aunt Hannah Eldredge where I lived until 1856 when he returned and two years after he married an English widow whose name was Ann Cooper 4 She had two little girls whose names were respectively Mary Ann & Adelaide. . . . 5 In the general move of the Mormons from Salt Lake, father came to Lehi and in 1859 to Cedar Springs or Holden in Millard County where he took some 40 cows and a small flock of sheep belonging to Bro David Savage to keep on shares of one half of the increase for the term of three years. 6 In 1863, having given up this stock and having quite a little of his own he moved to this place (Tokerville) keeping his stock at Kanab, until the spring of 1866 when the Indians became very hostile. . . .7 4 T h e elder Savage, Levi Jr., returned from his mission to Siam in company with the ill-fated Willie's H a n d c a r t Company in the fall of 1856 with which he served as a subcaptain.

On August 13, when the fateful decision to push on to Salt Lake Valley was made, Savage spoke strongly against proceeding because of the lateness of the season. When the vote went against him he cast his lot with the company and shared in the tragic experiences on the Sweetwater. See "Journal of Levi Savage, Jr.," entries for August 13 and October 1856, handwritten original, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; also see Levi Savage, Jr., Journal, compiled by Lynn M. Hilton ([Salt Lake City], 1966), 65-66 and 73-75. Secondary accounts referring to Savage's role in the Willie's Company are T.B.H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints (New York, 1873), 314-15, and LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Handcarts to Zion: The Story of a Unique Western Migration, 1856-1860 (Glendale, Calif., 1960), 93-97.

5 Levi Savage, Jr., had pushed Ann Cooper's handcart on the trek west for which service she cooked and washed for him. In an outburst of matrimonial enthusiasm, extraordinary even in polygamous U t a h , he later married both of her daughters. By the eldest, Mary Ann, he had two children.

6 David Savage was apparently no relation.

7 Levi Savage, Jr., was among the first settlers at K a n a b , moving his stock there in 1863 along with fourteen others. According to Levi Mathers Savage's account his father paid $1,000 for the holdings of seven of the settlers in 1864, thus acquiring a claim to most of

Levi Mathers

Savage

9

On the fifteenth (15) day of July 1860 while living at Cedar Springs I went to Fillmore Millard Co and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and So far as I understand Mormonism to day I am a firm believer in its principles. . . .

On the 20st day of July 1871 started to school at Morgan College S L City Remained there as pupil and assistant teacher until June 20 1872 when hear[i]ng of my father being very ill I returned home to this place, found father recovering, remained until the first (1) day of September 1872 then returned to Salt Lake hired out to Latimer Taylor & Co, for whom I worked until the fifteenth of March 1873.8 During the months of January and February—1873 there was a conclusion arrived at by the authorities of the Church to settle Arizona Territory, and I was one selected to go from the 14th Ward Salt Lake City where I was living with Elder John Taylor's family Accordingly I made preparations to go with Wm N. Taylor and wishing to visit father a short time before starting on my final mission I left Wm Taylor to bring the team while I went on before him to Tokerville and there would wait for him. And here I wait Still; But I received a letter from him saying that he was counseled to wait until fall I have just learned that the Brethren who has got to Arizona are returning [. They] have got to the south banks of the big Colorado and find that river very high Boat gone and the Little Colorado, the stream we calculated to settle on has dried up according to reports, so I think that the prospects for going to Arizona soon is extreemly doubtful.9 While attending the celebration of this National the Kanab area. However, this claim was lost along with Savage's stock during the Indian troubles of 1866. Indicating that all things are relative, Levi M. wrote that his father, ''being completely tired of frontier life, determined" to withdraw to Toquerville "and let somebody else go into the borders." Levi Mathers Savage, "Family History Journal: First Entry March 28, 1876; Last Entry August 2, 1935," mimeographed (Provo, Utah, [1955]), 3-5. (Cited hereafter by the cover title: "Journal of Levi Mathers Savage. . . .") From a very early age Levi Mathers shared his father's pioneering fortunes.

8 Like many Utahns of his era young Savage had an unrequited yearning for education.

He had almost no opportunity to study until he was fourteen and then only because he cut his foot requiring that he be off his feet for several months. In 1871 his father urged him to attend "some high school" and being, as the younger man put it, "of a somewhat studious disposition" he acquiesced immediately. Taking out a "Life Scholar Ship" entitling him "to a free admittance to the College ever after" he enrolled in John Morgan's Commercial College in Salt Lake City where he quickly caught Morgan's attention. On the latter's invitation he moved into the Morgan household where his education progressed so rapidly that he "soon had charge of one room." Returning to southern Utah for a time he came back to Salt Lake City in 1872 where he was yardmaster and bookkeeper for Latimer-Taylor and Company, lumber merchants. Following his 1873 stint with the Taylor sawmill he taught at Coalville for a year or two and was appointed "Superintendent of Common Schools for Kane County" in June of 1876. "Journal of Levi Mathers Savage," 8-10 and 20-21. y T h e decision to settle Arizona was made during the winter of 1872-73 while Brigham Young and Thomas L. Kane, the longtime Gentile friend of the Mormons, were in St. George.

As originally conceived by Brigham Young and Kane the decision included a grandiose scheme to establish a second Mormon gathering place in Mexico. The Arizona Mission to the Little Colorado in the spring of 1873 was the first step in this grand plan. Unfortunately the mission was hastily put together and poorly led. Getting off to a late start it lost its momentum in the face of failing water in the Little Colorado and the fierce winds of northern Arizona.

Divided, with some of its members convinced the Lord's will had to be fulfilled no matter how inauspicious the prospects and others determined not to chance their lives no matter what God's will, the mission limped back to Utah during June and July. For a thorough treatment of this subject see my Take Up Your Mission: Mormon Colonization along the Little Colorado, 1870-1900 (Tucson, 1973).

10

Utah

Historical

Quarterly

Day of the 4th of July a Telegram was handed to me from W m W. [N.?]

Taylor asking if I would come immediately and work with him on his fathers Saw Mill near Salt Lake City. . . . I sent the following. . . . "Yes, if it will pay well. . . ." This conclusion was arrived at by father's sanction and aprobation.

So I think I shall go north and either work for Bro Taylor, or seek some other employment; as times are quite dull here. No money to be had. If the Missionaries go and settle in reality the land of Arizona next fall, I really intend to accompany them.

Sunday July 6th 1873. . . . This afternoon has been held sacred by some drunken boys, gambling and racing with horses.

Monday July 7th 1873. . . . Since I came home I have spent most of my time working for father. This A M I began to cut his lucern (a kind of tame hay) which we rely on here for provender for our animals. It was quite heavey and awkward to cut, so father got Bro Thos. Forsythe to cut part of it with his Machine Thus by paying a reasonable price for three or four hours work we save as many days. . . .

O n the 27 of January 1867 at this Place (Tokerville) Bro Elisha H Groves gave me a Patriarctral Blessing. In which he exhorted me to hearken to the counsels of my father and those whom my Heavenly Father hath placed over me in the Priesthood. O n conditions of faithfulness he promised that I should be called to defend the Kingdom of God on earth and to avenge the Blood of Innocence upon them that dwell upon the earth Will be strong and mighty in the day of battle—become great in the knowledge and sciences of the day— a judge in Isreal—a counselor in Zion a statesman in the Kingdom of god, and etc. Behold the coming of my Redeemer Be numbered with the 144,000 and 10 etc Saturday July 12th. . . . This evening, Fredrick Mullins of Pannacca formerly of this place came here to by chickens eggs and etc to peddle at Pioche, a mining burg in south eastern Nevada. He, Mullins, was intoxicated as he usually is when he visits this place of wine. He used very severe and unbecoming language for a man, to say nothing of a gentleman. He indulged in a ridiculously maudlin peice of blasphemy, full of egotism and pride (Pride, of the beastly drunkard of course, and not that pride that is calculated to enlighten and purify our tabernacles of human depravity. [) ] Well there are quite a number of the youth of this place following his example of self destruction,11 Sunday July 13th 1873 To day I heard a telegram read from President Young saying it would be wisdom for the Brethren who are in this part of the 10 Virtually all Mormons received patriarchal blessings. These usually foretold the future of the individual being blessed in rather general terms and in equally unspecific words laid out patterns of conduct upon which the blessing depended. Guided by the stern injunction of his blessing Savage remained an unyielding Mormon throughout his life.

11 A product of Mormon U t a h in the fullest sense Levi M. Savage reflected its austerity and narrowness as well as its sense of mission and concern for mankind. Without being truly self-righteous, he looked askance at those less able to abide the church's mandates than himself. This prudish concern with the shortcomings of others is very apparent during his youth.

I n his later diaries, one senses, his distress continues, but his code comes more to require silence about what is unseemly. Because it seems to reflect the effect the church has upon the faithful most of young Savage's commentary about waywardness among God's chosen people is included in the pages that follow.

Levi Mathers Savage

11

country and intend to go to Arizona, to remain here untill fall helping the citizens of this part harvest and etc. instead of going back to Salt Lake Gave instructions for D P Stewart of Kanab to have a boat built for the ferry at the crossing of the Colorado recomended it to be about 12 x 40 ft He intimated that he would go to Arizona himself immediately after Confrence of October next wished the brethren be ready to go with farming tools and etc 12 Monday July 14 To day Sister J. C. Naile of this place sent me a letter to read from Jacob Hodge one of the Arizona missionaries. He arrived on the Little Colorado on the 23 of April last. Soon after that river dried up leaving them with no water on a hot barren deseret They dug wells but the water got so unwholesome that it was not fit to give even to animals. Feed was very scarce, and he said they were obliged to feed their animals their flower to keep them from starving. I would judge from his letter that he thinks the enterprise a complete failure—as he talks about going home (back north) by way of the Seviere river. Though he does not know how long he will be obliged to wait 13 before a boat can be procured in which to cross the Big Colorado River Tuesday July 15th Nothing of much importance to day employed my time about the place This evening as I was going up in town I saw a group of boys and girls playing together a dozen or so in number, whose ages ranged probably from five to twelve years They were running from the street into the side walk and back across the ditches and etc. Some of them were indulging in very profane language for little boys and girls, Thus "Dam you to hell, come here if you want to fight." Boys daring girls and vicer versa Soon one of the rude little misses accosted me thus, "Cousin Levi come and help us dingbruse these boys." and other simular expressions of vulgarity. Is this the heritage of the Lord? the reliance of the Kingdom of God? Wednesday July 16th To day have been busy arranging things to start for Salt Lake. . . .

12 In chastizing the members of the unsuccessful mission, Brigham Young assured them that had he been in Arizona it would have yielded suitable places for settlement. Although John D. Lee operated a ferry built by John L. Blythe during the fall of 1873 and both Lee and Blythe and a few others actually maintained a precarious existence at Moenkopi for several months, Young failed to lead a mission south and the entire project lapsed until 1876.

A number of reasons for this delay suggest themselves. The Panic of 1873 undoubtedly interfered. Also the Navajo frontier over which a tenuous peace was settling came near erupting during the winter of 1873-74 when three Navajos were killed while trading in Utah thus making the settlement of Arizona appear unsafe. For a thorough treatment see the author's Take Up Your Mission. Also see Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool, 1854), 1 6 : 1 4 3 - 4 4 ; James Little, Jacob Hamblin (Salt Lake City, 1881); Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848-1876, 2 vols. (San Marino, Calif., 1955), 2 : 2 6 1 - 3 3 1 ; William H. Solomon, "Arizona Mission Diary, February 6, 1874, to May 21, 1874," LDS Archives; and correspondence under names of John L. Blythe, John R. Young, Ira Hatch, and others, LDS Archives.

13 Lee's ferryboat, which was itself a makeshift, clipped its moorings during the period the missionaries were in Arizona. On arriving back at the river they found it necessary to abandon most of their goods, break their wagons down, and cross them a few pieces at a time in a small rowboat. The ferry, roads, and other accommodations were primitive in the extreme, a fact which led to some friction. One missionary angrily expostulated that Lee's Ferry was "a Poor Shitten arrangement (to use the vulgar) and that this company never Should have been Sent." Lee gave as good as he took, but it was one of a procession of incidents contributing to the mission's collapse of morale. Cleland and Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle, 2:240. The wagons of the Arizona Mission of 1873 appear to have been the first to penetrate the mesa and canyon country south and east of the Colorado River.

12

Utah Historical Quarterly

Thursday July 17th Kanarrah Kane Co Utah Arrived this evening 6:30 P.M. on our journey to Salt Lake, left home about 8 oclock this A.M. . . .

Near Summit Creek Iron Co. Friday July 18th . . . . Traveled about 25 miles to day.

Paragoona July 19. . . . Just arrived here 12 N Enjoying the liberality of Hyrum Stevens. Who lived at long valley during the indian troubles of '65 and 66 He was shot through the breast in the fall of 66 while hauling grain out of Long Valley after it had been vacated several months. At this time the indians stole our teams cut our wagon covers helped themselves to anything and every thing they desired and we were obliged to return to the settlements of the interior on a few horses which we had managed to save leaving our wagons and all behind. Those times have passed—I hope—no more to return. . . .

Monday—morning 21st Last evening One Stanger of Ogden north of Salt Lake camped with us He has been on the Arizona mission Speaks very discouragingly of the country, The whole face of the land is full of mineral.

Land and grass are alike full of the stuff. Every thing is parched up and the heat is intense during the day—thermometer at 136° in the shade—and during the month of June ice froze quite often during the night. This seems to me to be rather unreasonable and I must say that I can scarcely believe it When he arrived at the little Colorado there was quite a stream of brackish and unheal thful water but suddenly dried up. He said however "If the whole Sevier was running down there there could not be a settlement made there in consequence of the mineral heat—frost—the unfertility of the soil—and etc.—In relation to what Pres. Young sent by telegraph about the brethren remaining here till fall he said they would not stay if he should come with Jesus Christ himself (he is going to O g d e n ) . . . .14 Friday July 25—in camp . . . . We passed through Nephi the county seat of Juab Co. I noticed some marks of celebrating the 24 of July as the day on which the Pioneers arrived in Salt Lake Valley 1847. . . . But few people were seen in the streets Some 20 or 30 boys and men were lying and lazily sitting in groops in front and on one side of the public meeting House. I judge this to be that pcutiar [peculiar] clap of humanity, who, having no respect for themselves, nor anybody else; are always contented and even anxious to appear as ludicrous and ungentlemanly as possible; for there they sat upon the door steps, and ladies going in were compelled to carefully pick their way—winding up through this ill-mannerly group who gazed pertinately at them as they passed probably making disrespectful remarks corresponding with their illbred conduct.

Another oncall group staggered along the sidewalk passing a bottle from one to the other, and as each youth turned the contents down his throat he would pull a wry face, shake his head sneeze and etc. then stammer out some maudlin expression neither elegant nor sensible. Some were riding horses with and with14 Savage's diary is interesting for what it reveals of the tension between Brigham Young and the unsuccessful missionaries. T h e defensive mechanisms developed by the latter come through with particular impact.

Levi Mathers Savage

13

Cabin near Springville, ca. 1887, represents the type of dwelling Savage — a keen and critical observer of the Utah scene—found objectionable.

Utah State Historical Society collections, original photograph album of Alfred Lambourne. out saddles little barefooted boys ran playing through the streets climing trees playing in the ditches and etc.

The doors of the meeting house were partially open. I suppose the more refined portion of the population were celebrating this day in a respectable manner within its walls. Similar scenes were obvious as we passed through Willow Creek village, except the meeting. Saw no meetting[.] . . .15 Near S. L. City Saturday July 26 (Evening) just camped here All well We have been on the road ten days, traveling through Settlements of various sizes situated generally upon small streams flowing from the neighboring mountains. Accompanying these settlements are very visible, the marks of thrift and prosperity Good crops of wheat corn oats barley potatoes and etc fill the feelds ir> Savage's negative reaction those living along the Weber River strangeness but seems more likely monism taught the principles of a the Latter-day Saints to show the beyond reproach.

to the conduct of people living in Nephi and later on to and at Kamas may have been partially the product of his to have been due to his thorough conviction that Morbetter life and his strong sense that destiny had marked way for Christ's Second Coming by living a life almost

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Showing a bountiful harvest and an ample reward for the toils of the husband man But one fault I wish to record is this. There seems to be in some places a great lack of energetic enterprise in building and improving. Miserable little huts "shingled with mud" are almost a universal sight in some places, fences, graineries, out-houses, yards and etc. all bear the same marks of confusion and bad taste. There are some places however whose most striking peculiarities are quite opposite to those mentioned above. And when I compare the marks of industry as seen in and out of "Dixie" especially considering the facilities of the two places for making comfortable homes the contrast is strikingly in favor of the enterprising men of our "sunny south" Any impartial person to take a tour through the Territory will unhesitatingly sustain me in the assertion. But we are getting back into the heart of "business & bustle" Salt Lake City Sunday July 27 Arrived here this a m all well Found Wm Taylor and folks well. . . .

Hardie's place on Kanyon creek S L County. Wednesday July 30 1873 Yesterday 29th I was busy until 3 P M . arranging my affairs for going to the

Savage saved Ins highest praise for the towns of Utah's Dixie. This view of St. George in 1876 substantiates his claim of comfortable homes and industriousness in the "sunny south." Will Brooks Collection, Utah State Historical Society.

Wfc":""**'* d*t--!<L-, ^^^"^^

."â&#x20AC;˘*"-Âť"*â&#x20AC;˘"**(

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Levi Mathers Savage

15

Mill. . . ,16 Our company was composed of Bro John Taylor and four or five of his family and myself one Mr Godfrey and an engineer Thos Mace. . . .

I notice while traveling through the settlementsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;by ranches and farm housesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the marks of industry are quite visible in some respects. There seems to be considerable attention paid to farming and stock raising. A great many chickens geese ducks and pigions are seen all up the Weber river; but I think Schools, meetings, etiquette, and mental culture in general are somewhat neglected. I render this judgment from the fact, that, as we passed by a house it was almost a universal occurrence for a group (mostly young folks and children) to gather at the doors and windows to gaze at us staring as if they had never seen a wagon load of men and a carriage before. A goodly number of these uncouth creatures wore ragged dresses which was even better than the dirt and filth that covered their costumes Probably they washed their faces once a month, and their hair hung in rat tails down their shoulders Silver Creek noon July 30. . . . oh what a beautiful scene we have witnessed this morning! This is what is called "Parley's Park" and it most certainly is most a beautiful park All kinds of verdure is waving in the delightful summer breezes which are only sufficiently cool to; bring joy and comfort to all who witness the charming scene (magnificent Summer place. . . .

Taylors Mill on head of Weber Thursday July 31st 1873 Evening Just arrived here all well. A terrible lonesome looking place. . . .

Friday August 1st 1873 Evening Spent this day in rigging up the mill which has been neglected, and in exploring for Timber that will do to saw.

But very little of the millions of this beautiful timber is large enough to Saw into lumber so that it will pay well. We talk of moving the mill in a few days to some other part. In my strolls to-day I saw a great many fresh indications of deers and mountain sheep but only got sight of one young deer who gracefully bounded away as if it fully appreciated the delightful and romantic country it inhabits with unbound freedom and liberty. . . .

Saturday August 2nd Evening Busy today arranging matters for moving the mill Bro Taylor and wife started back to Rhodes' valley this A.M. to make some arrangements for running the mill in that vicinity. . . .17 Thursday August 7th Today three wagons arrived from Chamoises [Kamas] Prairee in Rhoads Valley to move the mill into a canyon near that place. We have got them nearly loaded. Probably will start tomorrow fore noon.

10 Arriving in Salt Lake City Savage sized up the labor market briefly and agreed to work for John Taylor, then an apostle and soon to be president of the church, for $2.50 per day. With little waste of time they proceeded to the head of the Weber taking the Parley's Canyon route. "Hardies Place," here referred to, was L. W. Hardy's, a stage station some fourteen miles from Salt Lake City in Parley's Canyon. See Deseret News, July 16, 1867, and the "Journal History of the Church," October 8, 1866, LDS Archives, for references to it.

17 The name Rhoades Valley is derived from Thomas Rhoades, noted Mormon prospector, who discovered coal near present Coalville and recognized Kamas prairie's potential for ranching in 1858. Called both Rhoades Valley and Kamas the community had been established about thirteen years at the time of Savage's visit there. See Gale R. Rhoades and Kerry Ross Boren, Footprints in the Wilderness: A History of the Lost Rhoades Mines, (Salt Lake City, 1971), 77-84.

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Saturday August 9th 1873 Near Chamois Prairee 2.30 P.M. Just camped for noon left the old mill site yesterday A.M. as previously calculated. So far, ordinarily good luck, Of course that means occasional breakage of coupling poles, getting stalled in the river and etc. . . .

Chamois Prairie Sunday August 10th 1 p.m. Just returned from Sabbath School. Bro War superintendant. Some thirty, healthy and happy looking children, and about a dozen adults composed this school. . . .

The universal complaint of a scarcity of teachers is also here quite apparent.

As almost all the youth of America or Utah in particular, are inclined to shun Sunday schools So the youth of this little village c[o]nduct themselves, Young America is altogether too far advanced in modern civilization to Spend their time in Sunday school[.] 1 S I refer to young men aged from 15 to 22 years.

Chamois is quite a prosperous settlement of about 50 families The settlement is situated nearly in the centre of Rhoades Valley. A beautiful valley some 6 or 7 miles in length.

The Provo River runs through the South end of the valley and the Weeber through the north. The former flowing off southwest into the beautiful Utah lake and the latter into Salt Lake.

This is a lovely little habbitation for a summer home; but it is, So I am told, most a bitter cold place in the winter. Snow falling deep and laying a long time Considerable good blooded stock here. But in consequence of the Snow all the domestic animals are fed all winter thus involving a great amount of labor in cutting and putting up hay. Considerable grain here but the greatest crop seems to be hay. Dairying is a great item of home productions. The settlement is situated in a sagebrush plain on a hard pebble foundation. Almost surrounded with a beautiful green meadow No Public buildings except one log Schoolhouse. . . . The youth of Chamois are somewhat degeneratedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;indulging in profane language. As I passed quietly along a back street, "taking items" one of the Chamois Braves, a youngster probably about 12 years of age, thus interrogated a group of about his own age, "Who the hell is that," Staring quite impudently at me, and assuming very ingentlemanly attitudes, his coligues indorsed his speech and conduct by similar gestures and some low murmuring which I could not deffinitely understood. Some of the young population however are not so rude.

Some seem to take pleasure in conducting themselves like gentlemen and ladies attend meetings and schools and are quite polite in almost all circumstances Tuesday August 12th. . . . Monday morning we left Settlement of Chamois and commenced climbing the canyon it rained occassionally through the day: making it quite disagreeable breaking road through a new district of heavy timber and herbage (tall grass weeds underbrush and etc). . . .

18 Savage's remarks here suggest that not only was his own desire for education not shared by all, but that schooling, including shortage of teachers, was recognized as a problem.

Levi Mathers Savage

17

Wednesday Aug. 13 morning The whole of yesterday spent in moving Six wagons probably not more than one mile and a half; and, in clearing away the timber and under brush for the road. . . .1!)

Taylor's Mill Saturday Aug 16 Bro Taylor left for Salt Lake day before yesterday leaving Wm. his son in charge of business. Five of us here now, engaged in setting the mill, cutting and housing timber and etc. . . . I am now reading a book entitled "The history and philosophy of Marriage or, Polygamy and Monogamy compared" By "A Christian Philanthropist" The writer appears to be a man of considerable age and experience having traveled a great deal and observed as much as possible the different races of mankind, their customs, habits, laws, and etc. And finally come to the conclusion that Polygamy is altogether the best system of social life. Says the laws of God (the Bible) not only tolerate, but encourage it. It is perfectly harmonious with the laws of nature and under the present circumstances of the Christian world would be a great improvement upon the present system of Monogamy. . . .20 Monday August 18th Still at work sitting the mill It requires a great amount of labor to tear up one of these huge iron monsters; remove it over a long rough road; and set it down again all ready to run Our company is now composed of nine men and boys. Three of Bro John Taylor's sons. Wm, Hyrum and John. Two Choppers,—John McGregor and Wm. J. Hill—One logger Jefferson Huff. One engineer Thomas Mace one cook Charles Hillmore and myself. Mostly merry and gay and but very little profanity is heard. . . .

Friday August 22nd 1873. . . . We have enjoyed beautiful weather for some time passed—warm enough to be quite comfortable during the day— and cool and refreshing through the night—almost all the time being clear and still. But last evening about dark the black clouds gathered thickly about these proud peaks, lowering gradually untill in a very short time we seemed to be in the midst of a dense fog; the rain began to fall gently and easily, and continued drizling all night. . . .

Hill and McGregor had the good luck of having a small tent which accomodated three of our number A few old wagon bows set under some tall balsam trees covered with old blankets afforded a very insufficient shelter for four more of us. Then my bedfellow William T, and myself were still out in the storm. We set to work digging and shoveling the dirt from under our table (a rude frame with a few lose planks for a top) which stood in a grove of beautiful green trees; a delightful place for a clear warm day, with its shady bowers rendered sweet and melodious by the warbling of the happy birds and the murmuring of the brook of pure cold water. But it is not so nice a place to make ones bed in such a soaking rain as this However we finally settled 1!)

The new mill set was near what Savage calls Beaver Creek in a canyon nine miles east of Kamas. It is difficult to say where the original set was. The Taylor family is aware of John Taylor's lumbering activity but at this writing have no specific information. Interviews with Raymond Taylor, Provo, Utah, June 24, 1972.

20 Savage read this book carefully and recorded his response to it in extensive notes which have been deleted for brevity's sake. During his mountain sojourn he also read the standard works of the church, the Deseret News, and a book about William Techumseh Sherman which he found to be uncritically favorable to the general and to the cause of the north.

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ourselves in this romantic bed, but before morning we concluded that all the "romantic tales told of mountaniars and men who inhabit the wildest places of Nature Sink into insignificance when compared with a comfortable home that will not leak. Arrose this A.m. bundled all our clothing into the little tent, ate a cold lunch, and here we still lay some in one place and some in another all striving to avoid the drenching rain which is still poring down as if it took particular delight in saturating us and every rag upon us. Oh how miserable and provoking; and what a contrast with the past few days of beautiful weather. But I must not get home sick as I exclaim, "All is right and the goose hangs high[."]

Saturday August 23rd 1873 The storm broke away yesterday afternoon, so that we managed to work about a half a day. But last evening about dark the storm began to rage again; we piled into the little tent altogether; all our bedding extra clothing duds traps and our general stock of "plunder". We were so thick that we were almost double; but no great harm except a little grumbling, a few elbow "hunches", and a large stock of comic expressions social songs, riddles and odd tales went to make up the total of our "romantic" pass times during that miserable night. Brothers Hill and McGregor are quite accommodating; They freely share their tent with us even to their own great discomfortature. . . .

Sunday August 31st 1873 Slow business in the lumber line. First the pump with which we fill the boiler, begins to leak. Then the drive or gig wheel belt runs of [f] by stretching until it is loose or breaks or something else is the matter.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent bothering and fining up the "concarned concern"! and only about 300 ft of lumber yet got out. . . . 21 Sunday September 7th 1873 Enjoying another ramble through the forrests this morning; drinking in the beauties of nature so delightful and pleasant. . . .22 we keep jogging merrily along,—some chopping timber—others logging others cooking—others, keeping "steam up"—others saving—measuring and piling up lumber and etc. . . .

21 Lumbering was an industry of some importance in the U t a h of 1873. In addition to the urban market of Salt Lake City to which Latimer and Taylor catered there was considerable building in the hinterlands as well as the demand of railroads and mines in U t a h and eastern Nevada. Although Savage's diary makes no reference to other operations on the west end of the Uinta Mountains in 1873, Sloan's Gazet[t]eer of Utah . . . . 1874 indicates that seven sawmills were operating there. Sloan's statistics show dozens of mills in the territory including nine lumber and four lath and shingle mills in Cache County, twelve mills in Sanpete County and seven in Morgan County. Other sources refer to a sawmill run

by Miles P. Romney at K a n a b and a cooperative sawmill near Parowan run by Joseph Fish and associates. Also of interest is the fact that Brigham Young purchased a steam sawmill and sent it south with the Arizona Mission in the spring of 1873. When the mission failed the sawmill was diverted to Mt. Trumbull on the Arizona Strip where it sawed the lumber for the St. George Temple. According to Arizona historian James H. McClintock it was the second sawmill in Arizona. See James H. McClintock, Mormon Settlement of Arizona (Phoenix, 1921). Also see Deseret News, September 25, 1873, and John H. Krenkel, ed., The Life and Times of Joseph Fish, Mormon Pioneer (Danville, 111., 1970), 138-41.

22 More given to reflection than some of his comrades and less burdened with administrative worries than others, Savage regularly left camp on Sundays roaming and contemplating in the canyons and mountains in the mill's vicinity. Like many who have visited the high Uintas since, he was deeply moved by the experience.

Levi Mathers Savage %<->

19

Wednesday September 10th All well in camp still. Last evening a wheel belonging to the Engin, which had been broken before and very poorly fixed up again came to pieces while she was under motion The pieces dropped down, and wedged between the piston rod and the boiler. Snap went the iron and the way the chunks of[f] of this hard stuff flew around there was truly astonishing. This is quite a sad breakage As we have just got the machinery under way, and have sawed only some 10,000 feet of Lumber, and now must let the mill lie idle probably 10 days untill new parts can be procured from town (Salt Lake) I am thankful that there was nobody hurt, But the engineer Thomas Mace had a very narrow escape from being knocked down by a chunck of iron that whizzed by his head like a senty four pounder. Then after we had all quietly fallen to sleep last night, the noise of a fire in the thick timber near by awakened some of the camp. They gave the alarm and soon we were all out fighting it some with clothes on and some naked. The fire ran up through the oily leaves of the balsams and streamed out above, like a mighty plag of the fairies that was wafted in the night breezes. Presenting most a magnificent spectacle. This was a beautiful scene. But not a very pleasant sensation to be suddenly startled out of a peaceful slumber and find a large fire raging so close to a thick grove of timber in which we were sleeping. The fire I suppose started from the bellows of the blacksmithshop a few yards from the mill lumber logs and etc. However a few minutes of desperate exertion in falling trees and clearing away underbrush brought his majesty under our control, and we finally succeeded in putting him entirely into the shades, and then retired again, thankful that things were no worse. . . .

Thursday Sept. 18th All is right. No particular news. Yesterday, "Thomas" (our engineer) returned from Salt Lake bringing the part of the engine that was broke, having got it fixed, but it is not true, and therefore will not work. I am afraid we will be obliged to send it back to "Town" before we can run. This is quite unlucky as it is so late in the season, and but very little done as yet I am assisting to erect a shed over the engine and sawframe while the mill is lying idle. Thomas brought another man with him to fill the place of sawyer Friday Sept 19 Yesterday William and Bro John arrived here all is still well. By bending and filing they think to make the old engine work. Bros Hill and McGregor, (so I understand) yesterday bought Jefferson's Huff's logging team of two yoke of oxen and his wagon on 90 days credit for the sum of $400. They intend to chop and log, and Huff is going to chop for them. . . .

Sunday September 28th. . . . the same old routine[.] . . . Arise in the morning, shivering with cold, get breakfast. Cuddle around the fire to eat it.

Then all start to work. Gather together again about noon, eat our lunch back again to the bustle of our business, continue without cessation until dark. Then gather around the campfire eat supper (each devouring almost enough for a horse) and then commence our yarns to pass time. All kinds of comic expressions a few songs, riddles and laughable jokes pass the evening away. Then prayers are attended and we curl up in the blankets, and are soon dreaming of our more comfortable homes; which by the way are; scattered from Bear Lake

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to "Dixie". . . . the "boys" are a firstrate set. With but few exceptions all are willing to do their portion, are merry and gay, kind and generous, and blasphemy and profanity are unknown to the entire camp. I wish as much could be said of every Saw mill party in U t a h . T h e most delightful wether we enjoy clear cold and dry But the old mill does not come up to our expectations. She is nearly worn out, in some places and it is one continual "toggle and tinker" to run her. Instead of six or eight thousand, feet cut out in a day, about two is our largest.

Tuesday September 30th. . . . Bro John Taylor came up again today.

Reports a great financial crisis, and breaking of banks and other branches of business, throught the eastern states. It has reached Utah. 2 3 His debtors fail to pay him as they formerly agreed and seeing his condition he came to let us know that he could not keep us employed any longer H e proposes however to rent us the mill for a share of one eighth delivered in Salt Lake I think the men will not accept, in concequence of not being able to meet some cash engagements which they wish to fill; and they think that they can make money at other places, but if things are as Bro Taylor reports I believe men will seek in vain for cash jobs So goes the world today we know not what tomorrow will bring forth. . . .

Wednesday October 1st 1 8 7 3 Bro Taylor and William left here for Salt Lake to day. Judging from what he says, it is quite doubtful about our getting cash for our work immediately But for those that wish to use lumber near by their working the mill is a very good opening for them. W h a t I shall do I do not know, until William returns Probably he will bring some word that will settle my future calculations and movements in regard to Arizona.

Things are very dull here and a low spirit prevails among the mill hands." 4 Bros Hill and McGregor design starting for home tomorrow. But the result of this panic I cannot fore tell As near as I can Judge, whoever runs the mill in the future will come out in debt.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;that is unless it does better than it has hither to done.

Therefore I think it would be better for me to withdraw from the company and make sure of what I have already earned. 2 5 U n d e r the circumstances I think nothing can be made by running the mill on the terms that Bro Taylor offers. Yet I say nothin of the kind to the othersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but rather encourage them for I should like to see the old mill make something, but really / am afraid to risk it 23 Word of the Panic a p p e a r e d first in the Salt Lake papers about September 30.

Previous dispatches from the East were for the main the "business as usual" of nineteenthcentury promotion. However, the Deseret News did report some hint of what was to come on September 9 when it relayed information about New York banks having a bad week a n d the excitement t h a t ensued.

24 Savage's diary reflects m u c h greater sense of distress t h a n do the Salt Lake papers.

Burdened with substantial promotional responsibilities they were doubtless a much less accurate gauge of public sentiment t h a n is this diary.

25 Because his friend William T a y l o r wanted him to stay on, Savage remained at the mill until December when operations were finally suspended. H e was apparently paid in p a r t a t t h a t time b u t did not get all his pay until 1875. " J o u r n a l of Levi M a t h e r s Savage," 10.

The steam-powered sawmill described by Savage may have been similar to this early operation south of Little Canyon in the Manti Forest run by Jewkes and Van Bur en. U.S. Forest Service photograph.

Friday October 3rd Yesterday Bros Hill and McGregor left for their homes at Hoopervill. I think they are quite discouraged and considerably provoked in consequence of these disappointments. Yet I believe Bro Taylor will do his very best to settle with them according to contract, and, all others with whom he can make no different arrangements.

Bro Mace (the engineer) also left yesterday for Salt Lake I doubt his returning. Fillmore (our cook) has gone to Kamas leaving only four of us here now. Jefferson Huff who is logging Hyrum Neibour Hyrum Taylor and myself who are building a log house. Rather lonesome. . . .

Wednesday October 8 Day before yesterday we put the roof upon our old log cabin which we have been building since the mill broke; and yesterday we laid the floor. This was accomplished just in time, for the beautiful weather of the past month changed yesterday afternoon into the wildest snow storm that I have seen for many months. The old cabin without door [or] fireplace was quite comfortable compared with our former mode of living out of doors.

All is quite well in camp . . . business is dull, but I presume when William comes back things will be changed. . . .

Monday October 20th Yesterdayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Sunday, I visited the settlement of Kamas, on business and pleasure. It was indeed quite a delightful treat to me to visit again civilization. O n the 11th of last August, I left Kamas, and ever since (two months and ten days) I have lived u p here in the wilds of the mountains, Living the life of a logger and "roughing it" mountaineer like; I find it quite different from living at home among friends and good neighbors.

And I confess that even the sight of a female face does me more good than almost anything that I have seen of late I did not know that I thought so much of women, neither did I ever before realize of how much worth a good

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woman is. Excuse such extravagant expressions, for I am sometimes apt to exagerate a little upon light and vain matters. . . .2G Thursday Oct. 23rd All is well as usual. But we still fail to saw four or five thousand per day One thousand to day is our days work. Im afraid if we do not do a little better we shall be obliged to abandon the old machine.

The old machine itself seems to be in better condition than it has been since we started it. But the cold freezing weather is converting the water into hard ice so that we can scarcely fill the boiler.

The clear cold weather turned into a blustering snow storm about six oclock this evening. It looks indeed like winter while under foot and dark and dreary over head. . . .

Saturday Nov. 1st 1873 Just received a letter from Father. . . .

He writes very kindly advising me to enter into no partnership saying that kind is a very uncertain Ship to Sail in especially where there are too many captains.

Tells me to quit this business and seek employment where there will be more exercise for my mind He says "Your Fathers fireside is your home whenever you wish."

This is very good indeed and has almost induced me to go there, but if I should, I do not know what I can do to earn anything 27 Thursday November 6th 1873 All is well in camp at present. Tuesday evening Bro. John Taylor arrived hereâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;he came to see how things are moving.

Was not cappable of solving the mystery of our very small amount of sawing done per day. He watched our movements yesterday and to-day and started home this P.M. leaving word for us to go on with our work and do the best we could I told him that I was thinking of leaving, but he desired me to remain here, saying that it would not be long until we would all go home, He thought we had better hang together, and work along for a little while, until we can fill our bills, for apart of which he can get cash in payment.

Beautiful weather of late, but I am really getting tired of keeping "bachelor's hall" I wish we were going away tomorrow[.] . . .

Sunday Nov 16 1873 Another week gone, and nothing of importance to record. But the week has passed in the usual lonely monotonous miserable manner of a continual stoppage and tinkering. So Two-Thousand feet sawed (one days work) is the result of our five days exertions. Bad business, this. . . .

Tuesday evening November 1 8 / 7 3 All is still wellâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but about the same discouraging results in making lumber continue unbroken. I am getting more and more tired of this lonely and monotonous place! But as long as the present beautiful weather continues I suppose I shall remain here and try to do a little for Bro Taylor. I could stop work to night but as both William and his father wish me to remain, and as they have been so kind and benevolent to me, I will try to work for them yet a little while. . . . 28 28 Savage soon married Marintha Wright of Coalville. Later he took Lenora and Adeline Hatch as polygamous wives.

27 He was employed as a teacher in Coalville immediately after leaving the mill.

28 The diary ends with the November 18 entry but Savage and one or two others held on until December 13 when the mill was finally shut down.

Theology on the Landscape: A Comparison of Mormon and Amish-Mennonite Land Use

BY KARL B. RAITZ

Old Main Street in Escalante showing the barbershop Courtesy of Nethella G. Woolsey.

and a cafe

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A H E BEHAVIORAL TRAITS possessed and maintained through time by a distinctive group of individuals are defined by anthropologists and geographers as "culture." This article is concerned with one particular aspect of behavioral traits, or culture: the method of land use and how two distinctive groups of people, or subcultures—the Mormons of U t a h and the Amish-Mennonites of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania— have created contrasting urban and rural land use systems.1 T h e underlying motivational theological doctrine of each group has provided parameters for behavior which have shaped religious ideals and have also had a pronounced effect on the way each group utilizes its land resources. A m a p analysis of village morphology and field and building locations and sizes will show that each subculture has created a distinctive landscape—a landscape born out of theological edict.

Conrad M. Arensberg has noted that each American subculture has a distinctive community structure which remains discernible above the accidents of location, size, and function. The community is, in fact, a unit of cultural and social organization and transmission which provides human beings and their cultural adaptation to nature with the minimum personal, social, and psychological relationships through which the longevity of their culture is assured and the context of their culture can be preserved for the following generations. 2 Arensberg holds that a single community of a subcultural group reflects an honest view of the whole culture of which it is a part and is, in effect, a functional microcosm. 3 T h e individual subculture community, whatever its location and regardless of the time of its existence, will occupy areal space and will utilize the contents of that space in the manner prescribed by its cultural mores. T h e settlements it creates may be delimited spatially and morphologically from those of other groups which use their space and environment differently. The subculture community may produce visual evidence of its characteristic behavior traits, such as particular house or barn types, road patterns, field size and fence arrangement, special crop associations, or innovative agricultural practices. Each community assigns parcels of space to individuals in a culturally defined manner, thereby producing distinct settlement patterns, land use, and property Dr. Raitz is assistant professor of geography at the University of Kentucky.

1 T h e concept of subculture is discussed at length by Milton M. Gordon in his book Assimilation in American Life (New York, 1964), 19-59.

2 "American Communities," American Anthropologist, 57 (December 1955), 1143.

3 " T h e Community-Study Method," The American Journal of Sociology, 60 (September 1954), 109.

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distributions on a "material landscape." 4 It is significant that the material landscapes of ethnic or religious subcultures include landscape patterns and features which can be mapped on large scale topographic maps. These maps are, therefore, a valuable research tool in the differentiation of culture group landscapes.

M O R M O N DOCTRINE AND L A N D U S E

Mormonism was one of many experimental, communal, millennial movements of the early nineteenth century. A major difference between the Mormons and other groups is that while other millennial movements set a time of the Second Coming of Christ, the Mormons set a place. This meeting place was called "Zion" and the communities at the place were referred to as "gatherings." T h e theological doctrine of the gathering is one of Mormonism's oldest and most influential doctrines. It was a sign of a new and everlasting covenant which the Lord made with his followers. This doctrine reflected the ancient promises that were made to Israel and also the prophecy of a Second Coming as interpreted by the leaders of the movement. The gathering was an idea which was encouraged by divine will and sought after by individuals. 5 Inspiration for the gathering came from a literal interpretation of the scriptures, from a providential reading of history, and from the circumstances of a free-land society in early nineteenthcentury America.

Joseph Smith, a native of New England, founded Mormonism in New York in 1830, and he made the gathering of the Saints, or followers, in Zion the great unifying theme and ultimate goal of Mormonism.

By way of visions and revelations, he concluded that this common home of all Saints was to be in America. Under his dynamic leadership the influence of Mormonism spread to foreign countries. T h e response a Mormon made to fulfilling the prophecy of the ultimate gathering was to proselytize, and the belief in the gathering came to be regarded as a sign of one's faithfulness.6 A second major doctrine, that of inheritance, was directly related to the gathering. The meek were to inherit the earth, and as part of the gathering, life here and in the hereafter was a continuum. Thus, 'Arensberg, "American Communities," 1146.

William Mulder, Homeward to Zion: The Mormon (Minneapolis, 1957), 18.

0 Ibid., 20.

5

Migration

from

Scandinavia

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the communities that were founded through the gathering were the prototype for the ultimate kingdom. Joseph Smith had conceived a city plan for Zion which was a four-square gridiron with wide streets intersecting at right angles and an idealized version of the New England town.7 METHOD OF MORMON LAND U S E

As the Mormons moved across the eastern part of the United States in the 1830s, the square-plot pattern was used at their major settlements at Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. In the mid-1840s, Joseph Smith was killed at Nauvoo, an unfortunate tragedy, and the Mormons fled the Midwest and migrated to the Great Salt Lake Valley in what is now Utah. On arrival, church leaders established a rationale for settlement and exploitation of their new land based on the theological doctrine that Smith had espoused.

All settlements occupied by the Saints were to be "gathered together" in villages, according to custom, in the mountain valleys.

By living in what amounted to farm villages, the people could retain their ecclesiastical organization, have regular meetings of the quorums of the priesthood, and establish and maintain day and Sunday schools, improvement associations, and relief societies. This method also allowed for the cooperation of all in financial and secular matters, in digging irrigation ditches and fencing fields, and in making other necessary domestic improvements. In addition, the village offered mutual protection and a source of refuge from cattle thieves and hostile Indians.

A further advantage of the compact farm village was that it precluded the risk of loss of social and civic responsibilities and character which might otherwise have occurred on widely spaced farmsteads. Rather, intercommunication was simple, convenient, and inexpensive.8 As settlement progressed down Utah mountain valleys, each favorable location was surveyed, and the land was divided into village lots and small and large farms. Each family head was allotted land according to his needs and his circumstances. Those persons who would be part-time farmers, such as blacksmiths and shopkeepers, were given small one to five acre lots near the center of the community. The men who lived by farming alone were given large lots of ten to eighty acres 7 Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 24.

8 Nels Anderson, Desert Saints: The Mormon Frontier in Utah (Chicago, 1942), 427-28.

Theology on the Landscape

27

farther away from the village, with the size of a man's farm determined by the size of his family.9 In addition to field land, each man had a plot of ground in the village. Each block in the grid was divided into four even sized lots, on which each man built his house and his barn (see figure 1). There were no buildings, not even sheds or barns, in the fields. Everyone lived in town.

The farm work routine involved morning care of livestock and then a ride of up to five miles to the fields. In the evening after the Ibid., 68.

Figure 1 Portion of U.S.G.S. 7l/2 Minute Quadrangle: Escalante, Utah, 1956.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

ride back, farmers worked in their gardens, which occupied the remainder of the town plot. Every household had an orchard or a garden. The people were encouraged to cultivate vegetables and fruit, which would not only improve health conditions but also contribute to economic independency.10 After the garden work was completed, the farmer might attend the meeting house for worship, recreation, or business. The development of agricultural land and other resources was regarded as a religious as well as a secular function.11 In spite of inroads into the area by Gentiles in the early years, this system of settlement and land use, as practiced by the Mormons, became so inveterate, that the church expanded when young people in need of arable land, together with experienced pioneers, established new colonies complete with a place of worship, a town plan, a lay ministry, and a treasuryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in short, a full functional apparatus for nucleated community living patterned after the classic Mormon model.12 Examination of a Mormon village, such as Escalante, on a topographic map reveals modern day evidence of the land use patterns conceived of by Joseph Smith (see figure 1). The gridiron street pattern has been established on an alluvial fan complex with direct access to a stream. The large square blocks still remain an outstanding feature, and many still have only four houses (houses are the small solid squares on the map) and four barns (barns and unoccupied outbuildings are symbolized by the open squares or rectangles). Many unimproved roads lead out of the village to fields, and it should be noted that very few houses or barns can be found outside the village.

The focus of the village had traditionally been a centrally located meeting house, and the only commercial or church buildings in the village are in the center of the grid.13 Specific land use practices for the Mormons of Utah differ from the historic practices of Nauvoo in that the semiarid climate and the need for careful management of limited water resources have prompted the control of water through cooperative jurisdictions. Not only are towns located adjacent to streams, but efforts are made to gauge the flow and to store water for various uses, as the map illustrates. While these climatic restrictions 10 Leland Hargrave Creer, The Founding of an Empire: The Exploration and Colonization of Utah, 1776-1856 (Salt Lake City, 1947), 87-90.

11 Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 25.

12 D. W. Meinig, " T h e Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West, 1847-1964," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 55 (June 1965), 199.

13 See Lowry Nelson's description of Escalante, U t a h , in The Mormon Village (Salt Lake City, 1952), 87-90.

Theology on the

Landscape

29

Part of old Main Street in Escalante showing the Corner Cafe, old Relief Society house, Star Dance Hall, and Edward Wilcock store.

Courtesy of Nethella G. Woolsey.

have had a definite effect on the location of a settlement site, the relationships of man to the land are still regulated by traditional Mormon ideals.

A M I S H - M E N N O N I T E DOCTRINE AND LAND U S E

The Amish-Mennonites live by a simple three-word formulaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; obedience, simplicity, and love. They believe that God is to be obeyed and not merely believed in. In 1525 the Mennonite founders, Menno Simons and Conrad Grebel, stated that a literal interpretation of the

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text of the Bible was a prerequisite for religious salvation. 14 Because of their obedience to the biblical teaching, they not only rejected the efforts of other, more liberal Protestant churches of their day, but they also rejected the use of violence, the swearing of oaths, and governmental support of the church. 15 In the seventeenth century, the Mennonites were driven into the hills and poor farmlands of western and central Europe by their persecutors where, for survival, they were forced to pursue scientific farming methods.

Many divisions have occurred in the original religious movement, resulting in twenty-one major groups today. T h e Amish-Mennonites, for example, are a branch of the Mennonite church that separated from the main body of churchmen in Bern, Switzerland, in 1693, on matters having to do with the strictness of discipline.,16 Today, secularization of schools and higher education are avoided if possible, and the Amish are dominated by a proverbial, antiurban, Christian philosophy of life. T h e city is held to be the center of "worldly" progress, of laziness, of nonproductive spending, and, often, wickedness. M a n occupies his right place in the universe only when he is caring for the things in "the garden," that is, the plants and animals created by God. T h e Amish farmer is wedded to his land, and farming is one of the tenets of the Amish religion,17 M E T H O D OF A M I S H L A N D U S E

When the Amish-Mennonites migrated to the United States in 1757, William Penn, who was aware of their industry and ability, invited them to settle in Pennsylvania. 18 Their present dominance in Lancaster County results not from an initial advantage of earliest settlement but from a constant displacement of other groups in an area where the demand for contiguous farmland has forced land values to rise unusually high. 1 9 T h e economy of the Amish-Mennonites is based on agriculture. In Lancaster County, the Grossbauer, or family farm (mixed, intensive agriculture), or some closely related occupation 14

Walter M. Kollmorgen, The Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Rural Life Studies no. 4 (Washington, D . C , 1942), p. 4.

15 John A. Hostetler, Mennonite Life (Scottsdale, Pa., 1954), 5.

46 Daniel Kauffman, Mennonite Cyclopedic Dictionary (Scottsdale, Pa., 1937), 8.

17 John A. Hostetler, "Persistence and Change Patterns in Amish Society," Ethnology 3 (April 1964), 188; Kollmorgen, The Old Order Amish, 4.

18 Walter M. Kollmorgen, " T h e Agricultural Stability of the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania," The American Journal of Sociology, 49 (November 1943), 233.

19 Kollmorgen, The Old Order Amish, 24.

Theology on the Landscape

31

is a prerequisite for church membership. They also require plain living and complete abstention from worldliness. They recognize that if they lose their agricultural base they will probably disappear as a group in a few generations. Consequently, the Amish-Mennonites were the first farmers in this country to develop outstanding farming improvements.

They were the first to build large barns as stock shelters, and they have used the latest and best farm machinery, with the exception of the tractor which may be used only for auxiliary belt power. They were among the first to understand the merits of diversification and such constructive farming practices as the use of legumes in a crop rotation and manure as fertilizer. They were small-farm minded and have historically avoided plantations and large-acreage commercial farms.20 Today they are largely self-sufficient in their food supply which includes an unusual variety of vegetables, cheeses, and meats.

The Amish-Mennonites have become a more cohesive group than have other religious or ethnic subcultures of the region, and this has made possible a helpful program of mutual aid.

The sound farming practices and their willingness to work long hours have permitted the Amish to buy out less efficient non-Amish farmers living in the region. This process, together with the dependence on horses and buggies for transportation, has resulted in the formation of a small, spatially compact area of Amish farms which increases both the ease of social communication within the community and its isolation from the outside world. High land values result from this centripetal pressure on the land. The importance of farming and the rural environment in maintaining the religious disciplines of the Amish, combined with the financial difficulties of accumulating enough capital to purchase a farm at inflated prices, make a system of mutual aid a necessity if the young people are to be kept within the group.

A primary objective of Amish agriculture is to accumulate enough money to keep all the offspring on farms. Extending aid to promising young farmers is considered one of the greatest virtues. Prestige among the Amish depends on competence and success in farming. 21 The village of Intercourse is located in the heart of the AmishMennonite region of Lancaster County (see figure 2 ) . The areal pressure that the Amish have exerted as landowners is at once evident in the linear settlement pattern of the village. The road pattern is 20

Kollmorgen, "Agricultural Stability," 233.

Stanley A. Freed, "Suggested Type Societies in Acculturation Studies," Anthropologist, 59 (March 1959), 60-61.

21

American

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Utah Historical Quarterly

irregular, and houses and the larger commercial buildings are tightly packed together on narrow lots. Most of the village houses have been built on or near highway right-of-ways in linear strips along the roads within the village. Note that many of the village houses have large barns behind them, suggesting that while the occupants may operate some type of business or service such as wheelwright or blacksmith, they still maintain a link with the land.22 The Amish farmers live on individual farmsteads which, while separated, are in close proximity 22 Kollmorgen observes that the Amish-Mennonites apparently introduced the large Swiss bank-barn into Lancaster County. The barns w-ere up to eighty feet long and as much as

Figure 2 Portion of U.S.G.S. 7l/2 Minute Quadrangle.

New Holland, Pennsylvania, 1969.

Theology on the Landscape

33

to each other. The farms are small, averaging less than sixty acres (see figure 2). Land values in this area are as much as three times higher than they are a few miles to the south. It should also be noted that the long rural buildings (symbolized by a narrow rectangle) are likely to be tobacco barns. Tobacco is a labor-intensive crop demanding skill, high capital investment, and a government allotment. It seems ironic that tobacco, a symbol of worldliness and government regulation, is the second-ranking cash crop of the Amish-Mennonites. 23 A COMPARISON OF A M I S H AND MORMON V I E W S

Evidence obtained from the topographic maps and secondary sources shows a diversity of viewpoints toward land use by these two subculture groups. The Amish community must be dispersed in farms across the landscape, yet the farms must be concentrated together if the Amish are to preserve their way of life. The worldly influence of the town and city must be avoided, yet the town retains the function of providing needed services to the Amish farmer.

The Mormon community, on the other hand, is focused on the "gathering" or the farm village. Escalante, Utah, has a population of 638, about the same as Intercourse, Pennsylvania, at 600. Yet Escalante occupies more than twice as much land as Intercourse. The Mormon village grid plan lowers the density of community settlement while still providing all the desired communitarian qualities that were first outlined by Joseph Smith. It is interesting to note that, although both groups have placed much value in hard work and an orderly, quiet, and humble existence and both groups fear absorption into the society of the Gentile or of the world, their motivational theological doctrines have influenced the creation of two completely different landscape patterns.

One must conclude that the method of organizing and using land exercised by the Mormons is, to a great degree, a result of a distinctive theological doctrine. Environmental influences, such as a shortage of rainfall and poor soils, have not had an effect on the basic methods of land use organization. Only the specific techniques of irrigation and sixty feet wide. Buildings of this size and shape can be distinguished on the United States Geological Survey topographic maps because all buildings that exceed a minimum size of 40 x 40 feet are symbolized at their relative size and shape. See Kollmorgen, The Old Order Amish, 4 and 28; and U.S., Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Topographic Instructions of the U.S. Geological Survey (Washington, D . C , 1961), book 3, chapter 3A2, p. 2.

23 Kollmorgen, The Old Order Amish, 24, 34-35.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

water management had to be adapted for the West. Mormon behavior may be a combination of many economic and theological factors, but it became institutionalized into the cultural fabric of the group. The result was a similar weaving of varied land use elements at each gathering.24 The Amish method of land use can also be isolated as an example of distinct subculture behavior. Amish land use methods have been much the same since the seventeenth century when the Grossbauer, or family farm, was established on marginal farmland in western and central Europe. Amish motivations concerning the use of land are distinctive, and the resulting material landscape made up of intensive scientific agriculture on very small, individual farms is easily identified.

While the Amish do enjoy a favorable local environment in southeastern Pennsylvania, historical evidence would not seem to support a hypothesis of dominant environmental influence on cultural behavior and land use.

A major difference in the two subcultures that seems to have resulted from their distinctive theological doctrines is that the Amish have developed a closed and introverted society, whereas the Mormons have evolved an open and extroverted society in which a real expansion and new members are desired. It seems ironic that the spatial pattern of land use, as seen on the topographic maps, would lead one to believe that the reverse were true.

It is indeed valuable for one to discover that his daily behavior, while it has significance for the historical and social chronicles, has also produced observable patterns on the landscape that reveal a visual geographical record which has both spatial and temporal dimensions.

And a real appreciation of one's own culture-history can take place only when these patterns on the landscape are studied and compared with the patterns created by other culture groups.

24

Meinig, "The Mormon Culture Region," 196.

Hard-rockJournalism: Burt Brewster and the Review

BY W I L L I A M R. L I N D L E Y

B

• U R T B. B R E W S T E R

Burt B. Brewster, influential editor and publisher of the Mining and Contracting Review. Courtesy of Mrs. Burt B. Brewster.

WAS

not the kind of man you remember for his tactful remarks, courteous gestures, and his patience. He had none of these qualities in any notable degree. His position in life was not really impressive cither, though—booster that he was—he could almost persuade you that the editor of the Mining and Contracting Review of Salt Lake City was the force behind every ton of ore that was trundled out of the Oquirrh Mountains and down to the mills and smelters which raised their tall stacks near the shore of Great Salt Lake.

And his little publication stepped on some big toes. "An anemic publication," said Harold L. Ickes, while John L. Lewis called

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Utah Historical

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the Review "a scurrilous sheet." Brewster carried these quotations proudly in every issue. They were simply replies in kind to some forceful language of the editor's. T h e titles of some of his editorials alone indicate the tone: "Driveling Nonsense," "Eggheads and Mushmouths," and "Puerile Sophistry."

Tall, white-haired, with a squarish jaw he jutted into everyone's affairs, a man of long stride and longer windâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that was Burt B. Brewster.

T h a t jaw worked in criticism of many people, such as the successful businessman who was showing friends at a local club the family coat of arms he had traced down recently. As the group remarked on the significance of the various symbols, Burt, quaffing a drink near by, recalled to himself that the speaker's father had come to Salt Lake City as a stable boy. Leaning into the conversation, Burt pointed to the symbols and asked, "Where's the curry comb, you so and so?" Such comments he later recalled with gusto, evidently not noticing that they often hurt sensitive people.

Burt had the capacity to be exceedingly frank with others. Though the product of a cultivated family, he seemed a throwback in manner and sentiment to the rough and tumble days of the western mining camps. His brash comments, drawled out of the side of his mouth in a sarcastic monotone, would have stood him well in the boom days of Butte or Bidwell's Bar. More significantly, he often told how he had received brusque treatment from his father, once the coal industry's negotiator with John L. Lewis, despite a mutual affection that ran deep.

For example, Burt loved baseball, and by achieving an outstanding record as a pitcher had won a tryout with the majors. T h e contract was ready for signing. Burt wired his father the good news. Back came the reply: "Sign the contract, but never call yourself a son of mine again."

After recovering somewhat from this paternal thunderbolt, Burt concluded that his father, a mining executive, wanted a son to follow him in the business. So it was with a feeling of having done something to satisfy his father that Burt, a new graduate of the Michigan School of Mines, went in to talk over his future with the Old Man. T h e When a writer is conversing with friends, he naturally does not take notes but stores what he can in his memory. Thus the quotations from Burt B. Brewster are from memory.

They are as accurate as possible under the circumstances, which involve recollections of the 1947-52 period when the writer was on the Salt Lake Tribune editorial staff, part of the time as business editor. Dr. Lindley is now associate professor of journalism at Idaho State University, Pocatello. Research on the article was aided by a faculty grant when he was teaching at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma.

Burt B. Brewster

37

answer was curt: "Do you think I want any relative of mine on the payroll?"

So Burt went west from the family home in Ohio to Saint Louis and then Salt Lake City. He sold mining equipment, and, from his own account, his eagerness to take a stand involved him in many tussles with the hardy men who blasted silver, copper, lead, and zinc ore from the rich veins of Park, Tintic, and Ophir.

By the time I met him in 1947 he had long ago quit the salesman's rounds for the quaintly cluttered editorial rooms of the Mining and Contracting Review (though he was not its founder). The tussles continued, this time verbally, and many a subscriber opened his copy wondering whether he was going to chuckle over Burt's having got off a good one or feel his temper rise at an editorial crowbar blow.

He was both the mining industry's best friend and severest critic.

As a former mining editor recalls: "Burt was wonderful to behold at some meetings of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, the Colorado Mining Association, or the American Mining Congress before he became advanced in years. He would literally get up and argue with speakers, walk out of a room in a show of disdain, etc. He was a great supporter of the independent miners, and it has always been my belief that this was one of the reasons whyhe became a 'columnist' on mining affairs for the Salt Lake Tribune, the owners of which, in those days, had substantial commitments involving the old Silver King Coalition Mines Company."

Actually, Burt's approach to most subjects was quite predictable— up with private enterprise and down with each and every governmental innovation, starting with the New Deal. Herbert Hoover, a mining engineer and conservative, was Burt's particular hero, though no one could eclipse Daniel C. Jackling, developer of the great open pit copper mines.

In "Eggheads and Mushmouths" (January 1954) he wrote, "It is time that citizens and officeholders stood up and were counted— what they are for—the United States of America or some damphool liberalism which threatens our very existence as a free people?" In "Badly Advised" (May 1954) he said, "The air is thick with cyotic screams and wolfish cries of Egghead Stevenson, Frank Edwards, Elmer Davis (the 'man who dares to think'), the Roosevelt relict, Drew Pearson and their ilk. The clamor consists of half-lies (cowardly use of the lie itself), lies, asinine facetiousness, rabblerousing and slanting the news."

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Utah Historical Quarterly

President Eisenhower's internationalist advisers were steering him into policies hurtful for the domestic mining industry, Burt thought.

He was a Taft man himself. To the end of his career he was wary of Eisenhower's "eastern financial advisors who, like the house dealer in a poker game, get a cut on international dealsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;going and coming" (August 1953).

One at a time, Burt swaggered in and stepped on the toes of many leading Salt Lakers. Only once, as I heard it, did anyone get the better of him. A mild-mannered editor of copy on the Salt Lake Tribune grew increasingly unhappy with Burt's columns for the paper signed simply, "Oldtimer." With this nom de plume, Burt assumed the role of senior commentator on all the latter-day innovations of industry and government. One day he stopped by this editor's desk to do some added expounding from the vantage point of his advanced years.

Calmly the editor looked up and asked, "Burt, whatever gave you the impression that age was synonymous with wisdom?" It was a remark which stung Oldtimer for months.

It would be wrong, however, to imply that Burt lacked a humane side. When my sister died, he was the first one to extend his hand in sympathy. Indeed, the influence of his gentle mother, whom he genuinely loved, ran strongly in Burt, too. Though he often chided the copy readers at the Tribune as "barbarians," he threw a sumptuous Christmas party for them and their wives and was a gracious host.

Unfortunately, some of the "barbarians," not recognizing the underlying good will of Oldtimer after so much invective, did not attend, and missed a grand party. As to his personal morals, he told disapprovingly of an incident in Boise, when convention-going mining men invited him to a girlie party. "When a man loves his wife, such things are repugnant," Burt said seriously. I knew little of his home life, but he recalled when the family attended the play Life with Father one of Burt's daughters, during a pause in dialogue, stood up, pointed at the actor portraying Clarence Day, and said, "Why, that's Daddy!"

The uranium boom which hit Utah with a bang in the middle 1950s offered Burt a chance to reach the big time with his mining gazette, but his principles, which required he support only legitimate mining enterprises, came to the fore.

"The Review has refused to publish the 'quotations' on the endless list of uranium 'stocks,' which have been flooding the Salt Lake City area in increasing volume each day," he wrote. "This of course means

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Review of Metal Mining, Coal Mining, Industry, Contracting and General News of The W e s t As Published Semi-Monthly

by The Salt Lake Mining Review, Inc. Entered Nov. 29, 1902, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter under Act of Congress, Mar. 8, 1899.

"We do not need lets criticism in time of tear, but more. It is hoped that criticism trill be constructive, but better unfair attack than autocratic repression. Honesty and competence require no shield of secrecy"â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Woodrow Wilson in 1917.

Masthead of the Review, 1943.

passing up considerable revenue for subscriptions tendered on the condition that publishing of these 'quotations' becomes part of the contract.

We do not desire to participate, even indirectly, in the miserable mess."

Some of the stocks, he said, represented "nothing but doubtful possession of mine claims and still more doubtful presence of ore therein.

Those who can least afford it are losing. . . . Teenagers, lucky in this wild speculation, are forgetting that work is the American base for living and success."

Actually a booster for the uranium industry, Burt feared that overemphasis on uranium would tend to obscure the plight of lead, silver, zinc, and copper mines and that wild talk about imminent and cheap atomic power would harm the coal industry.

In his latter days as editor, Burt continued his support of Senator Robert A. Taft, reluctant to accept a more liberal substitute. I n his untidy office in the massive Dooly Block he continued his editorial protests to no avail. T h e sun was setting for the rugged individualist.

It really came as no surprise when, on a fall day in 1955, I read that Burt Brewster had died after twenty-one years as editor of the Review.

He had simply got old, like the big Dooly Block, with its ornate lobby of hand-carved oak trimming. Most of the mining firms were still housed nearby, but Salt Lake City was excited now about the state's new, big payroll, missile production.

The era of the calm, polite, efficient organization man had begun.

The oldtime editor's rolltop desk had suddenly become as out of place as a Wells Fargo stage parked at a jet airport. But it is doubtful if the men of this new era will be as colorful as Burt B. Brewster of the Mining and Contracting Review.

Folklore and History: Fact amid the Legends

BY W I L L I A M A. W I L S O N

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. /i, castle Valley, setfns id%al for the Photograph by Dave^ Huish, courtesy e * ,*J>f Mrs. ].*Rowe Groesbeck.

42

Utah Historical

Quarterly

l \ SHORT TIME AGO ONE OF OUR university librarians declared that the Special Collections Library probably would not be interested in acquiring the burgeoning collections of folklore that are beginning to crowd me out of my office because "Special Collections is interested only in authentic historical documents." Now as a folklorist I would like to dismiss such a statement as simply the careless comment of an uninformed individual; but, unfortunately, the sentiment behind the statement is one I meet on all sides, among laymen and academicians alike. Indeed, though many of my friends consider the materials I work with great fun, they are constantly taken aback by the notion that the materials could be put to any serious scholarly use. And, whatever an authentic historical document actually is, to many of these people, as to our librarian, an item of folklore obviously is not one.

Though historically oriented folklorists have for some years now been defending judiciously used folklore texts as valuable historical source material, 1 we have evidently not come far from the day of George Laurence Gomme who in 1908 began his book Folklore as an Historical Science with these words: "It may be stated as a general rule that history and folklore are not considered as complimentary studies. Historians deny the validity of folklore as evidence of history, and folklorists ignore the essence of history which exists in folklore." 2 Today, with closer ties between the Folklore Society of U t a h and the U t a h State Historical Society having just been established, I should like to follow Gomme's path and argue once again for the "validity of folklore as evidence of history."

FOLKLORE AS ACTUAL FACT

In spite of the reverence historians in the past have paid written, dated documents and in spite of repeated warnings that serious scholars should eschew oral traditions of the folk, such oral traditions do at times capture and retain actual historical fact. For example, two archaeologists, David M. Pendergast and Clement W. Meighan, colMr. Wilson is assistant professor of English at Brigham Young University and immediate past president of the Folklore Society of U t a h . This paper was originally presented at the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the U t a h State Historical Society in September 1972.

1 For good summaries of the attitudes of past historians and other scholars toward folklore and history, see William Lynwood Montell, "Preface," The Saga of Coe Ridge: A Study in Oral History (Knoxville, 1970), vii-xxi, and Richard M. Dorson, " T h e Debate over the Trustworthiness of Oral Traditional History," Folklore: Selected Essays (Bloomington, Ind., 1972), 199-224, also Dorson's American Folklore and the Historian (Chicago, 1971).

2 George Laurence Gomme, Folklore as an Historical Science (London, 1908), 1.

Folklore and History

43

lected from the Paiute Indians of southern Utah oral traditions about a Puebloid people who had once occupied the area with them and then moved away. T h e stories squared with archaeological evidence from eight hundred years in the past, giving accurate accounts of economic institutions, material culture, physical stature of the people, and intertribal relations. 8 The Indians knew more about the archaeological sites than their white neighbors, said the authors, because it is their land, they have been here for thirty generations or more, their ancestors saw these communities when they were living villages, a n d the old people talked about it to their young. 4

Similarly, Frederica de Laguna, using carbon-dating tests, corroborated native traditions dating from 1400 telling of habitable periods of the Yakutat Bay. "Other natives' statements," said Laguna, "about the stages in the retreat of ice in the Yakutat Bay during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are in complete accord with geological evidence.'" Ballads and folksongs, often considered pure poetic fictions, have also contained historical data. Russian folksongs give valuable insight into the time of Ivan the Terrible, 6 and recent research 'has shown that the Scottish ballad, " T h e Battle of Harlaw," which recounts the battle in 1411 between the highland and lowland Scots, has preserved the details of that battle more accurately than have the sober histories.7 To be sure, folk history often views the past from an ethnocentric point of view, but so, too, do professional historians. In a fascinating study of the retreat of the British army in Afghanistan from Kabul to Jalalabad in 1842, Louis Dupree compares the accounts of the event recorded in British written histories with those preserved in the oral traditions of the Afghans and finds both sides equally lacking in objectivity. "Both Afghan and British contemporary writers on the First Anglo-Afghan W a r , " says Dupree, "reinforce the social values of their perspective societies and defend national or tribal honor." 8 3 David M. Pendergast and Clement W. Meighan, "Folk Traditions as Historical Fact: A Paiute Example," Journal of American Folklore, 72 (April-June 1959), 128-33.

4 Clement W. Meighan, "More on Folk Traditions," Journal of American Folklore, 73 (January-March 1960), 60.

8 Frederica de Laguna, "Geological Confirmation of Native Traditions, Yakutat, Alaska," American Antiquity, 23 (April 1958), 434.

6 Y . M. Sokolov, Russian Folklore, trans. Catherine Ruth Smith (New York, 1950), 350-51. See also Carl Stief, Studies in Russian Historical Song (New York, 1957).

7 David D. Buchan, "History and Harlaw," Journal of the Folklore Institute, 5 (1968), 58-67.

8 Louis Dupree, " T h e Retreat of the British Army from Kabul to Jalalabad in 1842: History and Folklore," Journal of the Folklore Institute, 4 (1967), 69.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

About the only historians to make extensive use of oral traditions to reconstruct the past have been students of Black African history, forced to these traditions by the paucity of written documents.9 In the United States where we have had literate people to record what has taken place in our country from the days of the first settlers the historian has had little truck with the folklorist. Still, in many areas of our past where written documents are scarce or nonexistent the historian could learn much from the lore of the folk. As John Bettersworth has pointed out, traditionally history has never troubled itself too m u c h with the people as such. I t must concern itself with kings and presidents; with movements a n d forces; and with wars, which Malthus tells us are a way of getting rid of excess people. But everyman rarely gets attention unless he chops off a king's head, or is one of the anonymous hangers-on in a movement, or becomes a statistic in a plague, or gets buried u n d e r a pile of granite as the U n k n o w n Soldier. 10

The same point was made at the turn of the century by Finley Peter Dunne through his fictional character Mr. Dooley: I know histhry isn't true, Hinnessy, said M r . Dooley, because it ain't like what I see ivry day in Halstead Sthreet. If any wan comes along with a histhry iv Greece or R o m e that'll show m e th' people fightin', gettin' dhrunk, makin' love, gettin' married, owin' th' grocery m a n a n ' bein' without hard-coal, I'll believe they was a Greece or R o m e , b u t not before. Historyans is like doctors. T h e y are always lookin' f'r symptoms.

Those iv them that writes about their own times examines t h ' tongue a n ' feels t h ' pulse an' makes a wrong dygnosis. T h ' other kind iv histhry is a post-mortem examination. I t tells ye w h a t a counthry died iv.

But I'd like to know what it lived iv. 11

And here! is where folklore comes into play. It can tell us what the people lived of. In 1855 John Little, an escaped slave who had fled to Canada, said, "Tisn't he who has stood and looked on, that can tell you what slavery isâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;'tis he who has endured."12 Folklore brings us the record of those who have endured through the major movements 9 See Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition: A Study in Historical Methodology, trans. H. M. Wright (Chicago, 1965).

"John K. Bettersworth, "The Folk Imperative," Phi Kappa Phi Journal, 52 (Winter 1972), 11 31.

Finley Peter Dunne, Observations by Mr. Dooley (New York, 1902), 271.

12 Life Under the "Peculiar Institution": Selections from the Slave Narrative Collection, ed. Norman R. Yetman (New York, 1970), 1.

Folklore and History

45

of American history—from colonization to industrialization, from the day of trapper and homesteader to that of the factory worker and sophisticated suburbanite.

Think for a moment of folk medicinal practices in early Utah.

We smile today at the credulity of the pioneer farmer who anointed his sick oxen with consecrated oil or at the naivete of the pioneer mother who made a poultice of cow manure to put on the inflamed arm of her son dying from blood poison.13 But then our survival does not depend upon a healthy draft animal; and when our children are ill we can take them to the doctor for a shot of penicillin. Early Utahns, however, had only their own resources to fall back on. Or think of the pioneer family settled at last in Cottonwood in Salt Lake Valley but then asked to pull up stakes once more and move on to southern Utah.

They sang: Oh, once I lived in Cottonwood, and owned a little farm, But I was called to Dixie, which did me much alarm; T o raise the cane and cotton, I right away must go; But the reason why they called on me, I'm sure I do not know.

Once in Dixie, weary and destitute, they cried: I feel so weak and hungry now, there's nothing here to cheer Except prophetic sermons which we very often hear.

They will hand them out by dozens and prove them by the book— I'd rather have some roasting ears to stay at home and cook. 14

To know the history of medicine in Utah without experiencing the struggles of those who lived without it, or to know the history of settlement without feeling the mental anguish of the Dixie immigrant, or to know the history of irrigation without living the accounts of violence and bloodshed between neighbors fighting desperately for the same water—to know only these things is to know only half our history, the dehumanized half. As Theodore Blegen says, it is the folklore and the grass roots history that "break through the crust of figures and graphs to the living realities that alone can give them significance."15 The figures and graphs tell us what people did; folklore tells us what they thought and felt while they were doing it.

13 Unless otherwise noted, all items of Utah folklore discussed in this paper are located in the Brigham Young University Folklore Archives, c/o English Department.

II Printed in Thomas E. Cheney, ed., Mormon Songs from the Rocky Mountains: A Compilation of Mormon Folksong, Publications of the American Folklore Society, Memoir Series, vol. 53 (Austin, 1968), 118-19.

15 Theodore Blegen, Grass Roots History (Minneapolis, 1947), 14.

Utah Historical Quarterly

46

In Utah the two most promising areas for folk-historical research are probably local history and ethnic history. A recent book by W. Lynwood Montell, The Saga of Coe Ridge: A Study in Oral History, provides an excellent methodology for those who would use folklore to help unravel the histories of their communities when the written record is skimpy.16 In Utah ethnic studies where, as a recent issue of the Utah Historical Quarterly pointed out, there are many gaps,17 we should follow the lead of Helen Z. Papanikolas. Her study of "Greek Folklore of Carbon County"18 and her comments on Greek folklore in other publications tell more about what it has been like to be a Greek in Utah than do the more traditional surveys.

10

See footnote 1. " I n This Issue," Utah Historical Quarterly, 40 (Summer 1972), 207.

18 Helen Z. Papanikolas, "Greek Folklore of Carbon County," Lore of Faith and ed. Thomas E. Cheney (Salt Lake City, 1971), 61-77.

17

Grasshoppers figure prominently in early Utah farming lore.

From John W. Clampitt, Echoes from the Rocky Mountains (1890), p. 391.

-fe

J

^;~t-Mi-•*:'&?::^.mM

• Mt

*-• " '-•

GRASSHOPPERS DESCENT UPON SALT LAKE VALLEY.

Folly,

Folklore and History

47 FOLKLORE AS C U L T U R A L FACT

A significant contribution of folklore to historical research is the insight it gives into social structure and social values and attitudes.

Malinowski taught us some time ago that myth is a sort of aesthetic correlative of social organization, a mirror for culture, reflecting and justifying social practices and changing as those practices change. 19 Thus, one wishing to know what is going on in a group should look to its myths and legends. New developments in the Mormon legend of the Three Nephitesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;those ancient Book of Mormon prophets believed

by Mormons to still be walking the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;make this fact clear.

I have recently compared some six hundred accounts of Nephite appearances which I have collected since 1964 with those accounts recorded by Austin Fife and Hector Lee before World War II. 20 T h e stories have not diminished, as some have thought, but have merely changed to reflect the social environment. Stories that once took place in pioneer or village cottages with a country road winding pleasantly by now occur in urban centers with the freeway sounding noisily in the background. Thus, where at the turn of the century a Nephite might have appeared to a nursing mother with caked breasts and recommended tobacco boiled in lard, he now actually enters a hospital, operates on a woman the doctors have been unable to treat, and removes a "black-colored growth" from her stomach; where he might have earlier brought food to a starving homesteader, he now appears to the proprietor of an A & W root beer stand and warns him to close on Sunday; and where he might once have rescued a beleagured cowboy from a cattle stampede, he now appears along the roadside to pull an injured Mormon missionary from a pileup of cars on a Los Angeles freeway.

Also interesting are the themes that occur in the stories. Though the stories tell of numerous different events, they have in recent years tended to cluster around three major themes: welfare, missionary work, and genealogical research. As Mormons will know, these are the three points of emphasis of the Priesthood Correlation Program initiated 19 Bronislaw Malinowski, "Myth in Primitive Psychology," Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (Garden City, N.Y., 1948), 91-148.

20 Austin E. Fife, "The Legend of the Three Nephites among the Mormons," Journal of American Folklore, 53 (January-March 1940), 1-49; Austin E. Fife and Alta S. Fife, Saints of Sage and Saddle: Folklore among the Mormons (Bloomington, Ind., 1956), 233-49; Hector Lee, The Three Nephites: The Substance and Significance of the Legend in Folklore, University of New Mexico Publications in Language and Literature, no. 2 (Albuquerque, 1949).

48

Utah Historical Quarterly

in 1964. To the exhortations of church authorities have been added the witnesses of the ancient Nephite apostles, testifying to the faithful of the validity of the correlation program and prompting them to obey its dictates. Thus, folklore both reflects and reinforces social organization and practice.

Folklore also reflects social values and attitudes, giving good insight into the mind of the people. Because of this, Allan Nevins, founder of Columbia University's oral history program, has argued that the oral historian should collect and study not only the personal reminiscences of people who have experienced important events but folksongs and legends as well. "In our more recent history," he says, "the legends of pioneer settlements, mining camps, lumbermen, and the cowboys of the western range, whether in prose or ballad, are by no means devoid of light upon social and cultural history."21 I would argue that in many instances folklore will throw more light on this history than will the recorded memories of individuals. And it will do so because folklore is transmitted orally and because in this transmission it changesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the very circumstances that cause many scholars to look on folklore with suspicion. If it changes from its original form, how, they ask, can it have any historical validity?

The answer lies in the nature of the change. In gauging group values, historians are concerned with getting representative opinions, attitudes typical of the group rather than of deviant members within it.

But every member of society in some ways deviates from social norms; and every individual view of events is just that, an individual view.

Hence the need for broad sampling of opinion, something not always easy when many of the people from a period being studied are either dead or have lost from memory details of earlier years.

Folklore, on the other hand, provides a sort of automatic random sampling. No matter what the origin of a folklore item, it will, if it is to survive, move from the individual expression of its originator to the communal expression of those who preserve it, sloughing off as it passes from person to person and through time and space the marks of individual invention, and in a short time reflecting quite accurately the consensus of the group. This is a process which folklorists call communal re-creation, in which the creation of one person becomes finally the creation of a community. To say this is not to deny the creative talents of those who tell the stories. Each tale teller is also an individual, 21

Allan Nevins, The Gateway to History

(Boston, 1938), 66.

Folklore and History

49

and no two tellings of the same story will ever be quite the same. At the same time, few tellers, in their attempts to add something of themselves to the stories, will depart very far from the consensus value center of the audience whose stories they tell and whose approval they seek. As Abrahams and Foss say, "the traditional performer is synthesizing the group, reaffirming its values, giving it a feeling of community. His aim is a normative one, and his arguments will thus be conservative, in favor of the status quo.'" For example, in 1966 two Mormon missionaries in Canada had a frightening experience which they interpreted as possession by evil spirits. Three years later one of these missionaries, now a member of my folklore class, collected versions of his experience from returned missionaries from the same field. The further the story had moved from its original source, the more the missionaries in the story, who had done nothing wrong, were converted into rule-breaking elders. One informant's comments are particularly instructive: "I think that it was late at night and that the elders hadn't been livin' the mission rules very well, and they were sort of apostate elders anyhow â&#x20AC;&#x201D;kind of the haughty kind. That sort of thing never happens to ya if you're livin3 your religion." Thus the story was reshaped by its tellers to reflect and reinforce the group belief that wayward missionaries subject themselves to the power of Satan.

A short time ago Richard Bushman, speaking about this problem of recording attitudes and beliefs, wrote: T h e present generation would also dearly love to know the opinions and feelings of the poor and the slaves. One hundred and fifty years ago hardly anyone thought it worth the effort to record their thoughts.

Now we must laboriously collect materials from scattered sources, speculate on the implications of the skimpy materials we do have and try to answer questions our generation is asking in order to make the past relevant for us. 23

Here we see the historian so devoted to the written word that he misses the oral evidence that exists all around him. The thoughts and feelings of the slaves were recordedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;by the slaves themselves in the songs, tales, jokes, and anecdotes that have survived to the present day. In them we find a constant dissatisfaction with the society they live in and a growing disposition on the part of many toward violence as a proper 22 Roger D. Abrahams and George Foss, Anglo-American Folksong Style (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1968), 10.

23 Richard L. Bushman, "Faithful History," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 4 (Winter 1969), 15.

50

Utah Historical Quarterly

means to effect social change. For example, Brer Rabbit, who symbolizes the weak black man in his conflict against more powerful white men,24 resorted in the earlier tales to clever tricks to outwit the stronger but less intelligent Fox and Bear. But in a recently collected text, Brer Rabbit, when not invited to a party held by the other animals, forces his way in with a shotgun, eats all the food, dances with Lion's wife, rapes Ape's wife, defecates on the floor, then leaves, with the other animals wondering what hit them.25 We would do well, I think, to heed such stories.

What is true of missionary folklore, and Black folklore, is true also of other groups and of our own state. If we are to know the heart and mind of our people, we must know their folklore. As Austin Fife has noted, the folksongs of a Mormon community "would be more useful than any single document in describing the morale of the community at any particular period in history."26 But as we seek to understand a community we must at the same time be prepared to see into hearts that are not always pure. People are often so accustomed to thinking of folklore as the prettified, sugary stories of a romanticized folk that they are shocked when they come in contact with vulgar lore. But folklore reveals us not only at our best but also at our worst. If we are vulgar, our lore will be vulgar. If we are racist, our lore will be racist. We Utahns do not always get along well together, and our lore reflects our points of stress. When the Mormon church was under pressure recently for its position on the Negro and when Brigham Young University athletic teams were the object of violent demonstrations, I heard again and again that a high church official had reputedly said that what we really needed now were some bigger seagulls. And the favorite riddle-joke at the time was: "Do you know why crows are black?" "No, why?" "Because they wouldn't eat crickets." But the Mormons, too, are maligned. At a Catholic school not long ago a popular kind of joke was the Polack joke, except that it was not a Polack jokeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;here in Mormon Utah it had become the Mormon joke. Question: "How many Mormons does it take to change a light bulb?" Answer: "Five. One to hold the light 24 For a discussion of the symbolic role of Brer Rabbit in Negro folklore, see the comments of Sterling A. Brown and Arna Bontemps in Black Expression: Essays by and about Black Americans and the Creative Arts, ed. Addison Gayle, Jr. (New York, 1969), 8-9, 3 0 - 3 1 .

25 Roger D. Abrahams, Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia, 1st rev. ed. (Chicago, 1970), 72-73.

26 Austin E. Fife, "Folklore and Local History," Utah Historical Quarterly, 31 (Fall 1963), 321.

Folklore and History

51

and four to turn the house." Some of the items slurred both Mormons and Negroes. Question: "Why did Missouri get all the Negroes and Utah get all the Mormons?" Answer: "Missouri had first choice."

We worry today about television and movies and wonder what effect they are having on our children in teaching them to accept drugs and violence. A historian from a later day studying this problem might find it instructive to look through archives for some of our present children's lore (and one of the folklorist's tasks is to record and file data for future historical analysis). For example, my seven-year-old son came in the house the other day singing lustily: Marijuana, Marijuana.

L.S.D., L.S.D. Scientists make it; teachers take it.

Why can't we? Why can't we?

And his songs seem increasingly to reflect the violence of the age.

Children delight in parody. One of their favorites has been the parody of "On Top of Old Smoky": On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table and onto the floor, And then my poor meatball rolled out of the door.

It rolled in the garden and under a bush, And now my poor meatball is nothing but goosh.

But the neighborhood children now sing: On top of old Smoky all covered with blood, I shot my poor teacher with a forty-four slug.

I went to her funeral.

I went to her grave.

The people threw flowers, But I threw grenades.

And to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" they sing: O mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school.

We have tortured all the teachers, And we broke the Golden Rule.

We are marching down the hall to hang the principal.

Our truths are marching on.

Glory, glory halleluah!

Teacher hit me with a ruler.

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I met her at the door with a colt forty-four.

And she ain't gonna teach no more.

Now I do not believe that my son and his friends are about to shoot their teachers and hang the principal. But I do believe that we live in a society where violence has become so commonplace that we, and especially our children, have become inured to itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;indeed, derive satisfaction from itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and I believe that these songs reflect that fact.

The songs of pioneer Utah reflected the values and attitudes of our forefathers and they continue to reflect our values and attitudes today.

FOLKLORE AS T H E PEOPLE'S FACT

Perhaps the most important value in folklore study is its use in determining what the people believe about their past. Here I am concerned with those stories which a group of people regard as true and which they tell about themselves.

I am often asked if I ever try to trace the stories I study back to their ultimate origins. The answer is yes, but more often than not the Legendary Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker), central character in ^many Utah tales, worked for Charley Gibbons at Hanksvdle.

Gibbons's photograph, courtesy of Charles Kelly.

Folklore and History

53

search leads to that body of tales which have a national or international distribution and simply get attached to given localities. For example, the following story is told of Butch Cassidy: Butch Cassidy went to see an old couple in a small southern U t a h town one evening. They told him that they were going to lose their farm the next day because they had been unable to pay the money they owed to the local banker. Butcli told them not to worry because he could handle the situation. After a delightful evening of conversation, he gave them the money to bring their account up-to-date. A representative from the bank came the next day to take over the couple's farm and was very surprised when they handed him the money. After he left their house. he was riding along on his horse down a lonely road. Butch and his boys held him up and took the money back.

The same story is told of Jesse James27 and belongs to the larger category of Robin Hood-type stories in which so-called outlaws fight a greedy establishment on behalf of the exploited poor.

Like Butch Cassidy, the redoutable Mormon divine J. Golden Kimball is the subject of many localized anecdotes. The following is typical : There was to be an impressive tour given to some dignitaries from other lands. J. Golden Kimball w-as assigned to the tour as a guide. They first took a bus trip to the important historical sites in and around Salt Lake City. Brother Kimball would constantly remind the visitors how fast buildings were put up by the industrious Mormons. Every time he would say so, one of the dignitaries on the tour would say, "Oh, is that right?

In our country we could do it in half the time." J. Golden began to get madder and madder as the dignitary persisted to offer such comments.

T h e tour was to end by having the bus drive around Temple Square.

T h e n this dignitary asked, "What is that building there?" as he pointed at the temple. "Damned if I know," said J. Golden. "It wasn't there yesterday." 2S

In Baughman's Type and Motif Index of the Folktales of England and North America, this story is Type 1920s.29 In a version of the story from the East, the visitor is an Englishman, the tour guide a Negro worker, and the building built in one day the Empire State Building.""

27

Richard M. Dorson, American Folklore (Chicago, 1959), 241-42.

Printed in Jan Harold Brunvand, A Guide for Collectors of Folklore in Utah (Salt Lake City, 1971), 57.

29 Ernest W. Baughman, Type and Motif Index of the Folktales of England and North America, Indiana University Folklore Series, no. 20 (The Hague, 1966), 61. '"'Leonard W. Roberts, South from Hell-fer-Sartin: Kentucky Mountain Tales (Lexington, Ky., 1955), 150-51.

28

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I would guess that at least half of the stories told about J. Golden Kimball have, like this one, originated elsewhere.

Other Mormon stories can also be traced out of the region. For example, the widespread story of the hitchhiking Nephite who warns Mormons on the way to a temple to get in their year's supply of food is simply a Mormon adaptation of "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," a popular legend known throughout the United States.3,1 And even those stories which seem to have originated within the church change as circumstances change. The once-popular story of a Nephite who delivers to a starving missionary a loaf of his mother's bread exists now only in fragmented versions. Missionaries no longer go out without purse or script, and while they may get hungry, they don't starve.

Hence the old story speaks to no real need. But in recent years it has received new dress. According to one account, a stranger appeared to a lady in Roosevelt and asked for a sandwich. The lady, whose husband was serving in the Korean conflict, gave him one; later a stranger presented the husband in Korea the same sandwich. I would not be surprised to find the story now attached to Vietnam.

One might argue that the examples I have just given discredit much of what I have been saying. If much of what we call Utah folklore cannot be traced back to actual events and, indeed, has often not originated in Utah at all but exists in scattered versions known in many cultures, how, one might ask, can this material be of value to the historian? But what we must remember is that what actually happened is often less important than what we think happened. We are motivated not by actual fact but by what we believe to be fact. And if we believe something to be true, that belief will have consequences in our lives and the lives of others. As Henry Nash Smith has shown, the Homestead Act was based in part on the myth of the West as a virgin land, as a garden spot where the sturdy yeoman had only to sow and then to reap abundantly.32 My grandfathers, both homesteaders, paid a dear price for that myth as they tried to support ten and thirteen children on 160 acres of Idaho and Utah dust.

The essential truth of folklore, then, is something that goes far beyond the question of fact or fiction. The fact that the Butch Cassidy 31 This legend has been analyzed by Richard K. Beardsley and Rosalie Hankey in "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," California Folklore Quarterly, 1 (1942), 303-35, and "A History of the Vanishing Hitchhiker," ibid., 2 (1943), 13-25, and by Louis C. Jones in "Hitchhiking Ghosts in New York," ibid., 3 (1944), 284-92.

32 Henry Nash Smith, The Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth (New York, 1950), 138-213.

Folklore and History

55

story is "historically inaccurate" does not change the more important fact that the story is true to the economically pinched farmer who tells and believes it and that it therefore shapes his attitude toward banks and bankers and for a brief moment at least gives him vicarious victory over what he sees as the cold, impersonal institution that stands always ready to drive him from his land. Similarly, the essential truth of the J. Golden Kimball stories lies not in their actually having happened but rather in Kimball's delightful irreverence for things that deserve irreverence—sham, hypocrisy, self-righteousness—and in the fundamental earthiness of the man. In him we find something of ourselves and through him—a real human being, not a stick figure or a paragon of virtue—many find hope for their own salvation. And the essential truth of the Nephite stories again lies not in their actual truth or falsity but in the vision they give those who believe them—a vision of a God who loves them, takes a personal interest in them, and, if they will follow Him, will send aid in time of need.

This impact of folk history on the lives of those who believe it is clearly illustrated in the folklore of polygamy, an issue that still today stirs more feelings than almost any event in U t a h history. T h e lore of polygamy is endless, reflecting both the harmony and disharmony of that "peculiar institution." The following three stories all reflect the disharmony: M o t h e r used to tell this story about a prominent family who lived in Ephraim. T h e first wife of this fella h a d quite a few children. She was heavy set a n d not too attractive. Later her husband married a younger, more attractive girl. Now their house was set u p in such a way that to get to the kitchen you had to go through the bedroom. O n e day the first wife had to pass through the bedroom, and she was carrying some slop for the pigs. As she passed by the bed, her husband threw back the covers, gave his second wife a nice swat and said to the first wife, "See, Mary Jane, what a nice shape she has." Well, it m a d e the first wife so m a d that she threw- the pig slop on both of them.

This story really happened to my doctor's grandmother. She had twelve children. O n e day his grandfather brought this new woman home.

Well, she didn't want it. She even h a d to give u p her good bed and go upstairs with the twelve children. T h a t m a d e her good a n d mad. So she got together the twelve children and got them each to take turns filling the big chamber pot, if you know what I mean. T h e ceiling of the bedroom downstairs was m a d e of planks of wood with big slots in between them. She d u m p e d the chamber pot between the planks onto the bride and groom below, took the twelve children, left the house, and never came back.

Utah Historical

56 '1 , 1 4 1 1 - . , "

,'H

.1 I Mill III lljl W.l!

Quarterly

I

B r i n g i n g home a new w i f e , ( a Mormon c a r t o o n . ) The folklore of polygamy seems virtually endless. the famous Rose Collection is by an unidentified Charles JCelly.

This cartoon artist. Gift of

from

[Though told in first person, this story is nevertheless a traditional account.] T h e r e was a time when he was courting another woman and I knew it. H e h a d n ' t told me, but I knew it and knew who it was.

H e ' d get all spruced u p in an evening and go out to see her. This particular evening I knew where he was going. I pressed his clothing a n d p u t a clean shirt on him, and I brushed him down and got him all ready to go. We used to have a bench by the door, and as he was leaving, I said to him, "Well, aren't you going to kiss me goodbye?"

H e said, "Yes." So he sat me down on his knee and m a d e a real good job of kissing me goodbye. This was my chanceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I pee-d, and I soaked him through, through everything.

In all three of these stories the first wife appears in a favorable light, the second wife (or woman) as an interloper, and the husband as a callous individual with little regard for his first wife's feelings. In all three stories the first wife comes out victorious. It is interesting that all three of the stories were told by women. When I asked my own wife why she liked the stories, she said "because they got what they deserved." However well polygamy may have worked during polygamous

Folklore and History

57

times, most modern Mormon women, I believe, identify with the first wife in these stories, applauding her way of handling a problem they themselves would not want to live with and taking comfort from the fact that even "back then'' the demands of poetic justice were sometimes met.

But folk history need not take us back to the clays of the pioneer fathers. Much of it is only as old as yesterday yet still plays an important role in our lives. My last example comes from late 1969 and early 1970, from the months preceding the April General Conference of the Mormon church. As noted above, during this time the church, because of its position on the Negro, was being criticized and sometimes threatened by outside groups. At the same time some apocryphal prophecies about racial wars and the bloodshed to come in the last days were widely circulated. As a result, many Mormons became convinced that Black-white conflict was imminent and that the violence would reach its peak during the April conference. Stories that justified this belief spread like wildfire throughout the Intermountain region. The following account is typical: Did you hear about the kids who were on their way to California and got jumped by some Blacks as they stopped for something to eat? I think it was in Nevada somewhere. Anyway, they were going to eat.

They stopped and were jumped by some Blacks who happened to see their BYU sticker on their car. They messed up the car and drove it off the road and then beat up the guys and did who knows what to the girls. It's weird that they would do that just because they saw a BYU sticker, don't you think?

Other stories claimed that cars with Utah license plates were not safe out of the state, that carloads of Blacks were on the way to Salt Lake, that the Black Panthers were sneaking into the city with guns, that all the hotels around the temple were filled with Blacks, that the Lake Shore Ward Sacrament Meeting had been interrupted by Blacks, that the SDS and the Panthers planned to blow up Mountain Dell Reservoir, that Black children were to sell candy bars filled with broken glass, that two bombs had been planted on Temple Square, and that Blacks would storm Temple Square during conference.

Conference came and wentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;peacefully. The stories proved to be groundless. But in the clays before the conference they had a powerful influence on many people. Some formed defense groups; others stored guns and ammunition; and some who had planned to travel from out

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of state to conference remained home. For a few who still believe the stories the threat of invasion has not been ended, merely delayedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and folk history, rather than actual history, continues to govern their lives.

In summary, folklore throws light on aspects of our history which have been little illuminated by the written record; it provides valuable insight into the attitudes and values of a people in the past; and it teaches us what the people believe their history to have been and thus helps us better understand the motivations which govern their lives in the present. Few folklorists, I think, would wish to disparage the work of serious historians. What we would like to do is recommend additional approaches to the study of our history and to suggest that when one learns how1 to look, he will find amid the legends many valuable facts, facts that one clay even our librarian may find historically authentic.

L O G A N , Oct.

Editor

Deseret

9th,

1873

News:

At present all is peace and plenty with prospects of increased business in all departments of life. T h e magnificent branch of Z.C.M.I. is fast approaching its completion, and when finished will favorably compare with structures of older and wealthier countries.

A movement has been set on foot to erect a meeting house in Logan, which according to authentic report will be unsurpassed (as a meeting house) in the Territory.

I t is sanguinely expected that the U.N.R.R. will reach Franklin this fall, and it is to be hoped that the iron of said track will form another terminus at Ogden at the same time, thus affording a continuous transit on our own line, from point to point.

A gigantic labor has been performed the past season by the citizens of Hyrum, under the management of bishop O. N. Lijenquist, in opening u p and making a road through Blacksmith's Fork canyon, at an enormous cost, forming a much nearer route to Bear Lake Valley, and making available large bodies of timber, among which five saw mills are now in active operation. A company has been formed in Hyrum, with the title of the Wahsatch Co-operative L u m b e r and M a n u facturing company, to operate in that canyon, with a full board of directors, organized according to law, and there is no doubt that lumber will be furnished to an almost indefinite amount. Fraternally, J A M E S A.

(Deseret Evening

News, October 13, 1873.)

LEISHMAN.

Orson Pratt as a

Mathematician

Orson Pratt's telescope now belongs to the University of Utah Physics Department. Utah State Historical Society photograph by L. V. McNeely.

Dr. Hogan is on the faculty of Lowell Technological Institute in Massachusetts.

60

Utah Historical

Quarterly

and problems of helping to establish a church on the American frontier would have either the time or the inclination to study mathematics. But Orson Pratt, one of the original Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pursued mathematics and science with the same zeal that he pursued religion. Even during the ordeal of the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, he was moved to record, SL E W M E N W I T H T H E RESPONSIBILITIES

It is a misfortune that we have no sextant in the camp, neither a telescope of sufficient power to observe the immersions and emersions of Jupiter's s a t e l l i t e s . 1

The accomplishments of Orson Pratt in both religion and science were unusually diverse and included many years of full-time missionary labor, the editing and publishing of Mormon periodicals and tracts, the surveying of Salt Lake City, and the writing of works in astronomy and mathematics, to name but a few.2 This article attempts to evaluate his achievement in mathematics in the light of his training and circumstances and in comparison with the achievements of his contemporaries in that field.

Pratt's family was poor, and his formal education was limited to nine short rural school terms that terminated when he was seventeen years of age. Consequently Pratt was forced to acquire all of his mathematical knowledge without the advantages of any kind of formal education. He recorded in an autobiographical note, "Towards the last of a u t u m n [1836] I commenced the study of algebra without a teacher, occupying leisure hours in the evening. I soon went through Day's Algebra. . . . From 1836 to 1844, I occupied much of my time in study, a n d m a d e myself thoroughly acquainted with algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, differential and integral calculus, astronomy, and most of the physical sciences. These studies I pursued without the assistance of a teacher." 3

' O r s o n Pratt, " J o u r n a l " February 26, 1846, p. 5, microfilm of holograph, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter referred to as LDS Archives).

2 Pratt's activities as missionary, pioneer, educator, politician, scientist, theologian, and church historian are discussed by T. Edgar Lyon in "Orson Pratt: Early Mormon Leader," (M.A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1932) ; Milando Pratt, "Life and Labors of Orson Pratt," published serially in The Contributor, 12 (November 1890-October 1 8 9 1 ) ; and Orson F. Whitney, "Orson Pratt: Apostle, Pioneer, Philosopher, Scientist, and Historian," Improvement Era, 15 (January 1912), 194-206.

3 Quoted in Milando Pratt, "Life and Labors of Orson Pratt," 85-86.

Pratt as a Mathematician

61

Pratt rarely alluded to his mathematical or scientific interests in his journal, and it is difficult to follow his progress. But certainly he accomplished a great deal under rather adverse circumstances. He wrote, on February 22, 1861, to the editor of Mathematics Monthly, published in Cambridge, Massachusetts, T h e solutions of problems I I I and I V will require considerable time to properly prepare them. I labour under considerable disadvantage in consequence of not having any mathematical works at my commandâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; not even an algebra or a geometry. 4

In May 1866 Orson Pratt's only major published mathematical work appeared in London and Liverpool: New and Easy Method of Solution of the Cubic and Biquadratic Equations. . . . T. Edgar Lyon notes, There is a persistent tradition, among the Mormons, both written and oral, to the effect that Pratt's mathematical work was used as a textbook in the schools and universities of England, Germany and France. 5

However, by Pratt's own admission his algebra work did not receive wide use or recognition. In a letter in the LDS Archives Pratt states, I published in England merely a few copies of my work [Cubic and Biquadratic Equations]; it is almost unknown in this country. I can see many improvements which should be made if a future edition should be called for.6

Unfortunately the first four pages of the letter are missing and with them the addressee and the date. But it answers another letter which it quotes in several places, and this letter is also in the church archives.

It was written by Alfred B. Nelson who was a professor of mathematics at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, and is dated August 1, 1876.

Hence, Pratt's letter was written some ten years after the publication of his book. It is very unlikely that the text met with any success after this date.

Pratt also wrote an unpublished text, "Differential Calculus," that was believed lost for many years.7 The manuscript of 224 pages is now 4 8 0 7

Letter in File 8, Box 4, Orson Pratt Papers, LDS Archives.

Lyon, "Orson Pratt," 86.

Undated, in Box 4, Pratt Papers.

Lyon, "Orson Pratt," 87.

Utah Historical Quarterly in the Mormon archives and is apparently complete, except for pages 79 to 103 inclusive. From this book it is clear that Pratt also planned to write a text on integral calculus. In addition, he started a textbook on determinants which he apparently didn't finishâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;only some forty pages of it are in church filesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;entitled "First Principles of Determinants or the Higher Algebra Simplified for the Use of Junior Students."

Besides these works Pratt wrote several treatises on astronomy and contributed several problems to the Analyst (Des Moines, Iowa). s Until the last half of the nineteenth century almost all mathematical activity in the United States was confined to the publishing of mathematical problems in one issue of a journal and their solutions in a subsequent issue. These problems were often original but were usually designed so that at least some of the journal's readers would be capable of solvOrson Pratt ing them. This type of publication was not serious mathematical research but rather a diversion for mathematicians. Pratt's problems were of this type.

Among the Latter-day Saints, Pratt has often been thought of as a mathematician worthy of international recognition and comparable to such great mathematicians as Newton, Kepler, and Laplace. That Pratt's name is absent in any text on the history of mathematics or science and that his name is not found affixed to any well-known mathematical theorem or formula attests to the fact that Pratt does not and never did have this recognition. Part of this esteem for Pratt among Mormons was just the natural overenthusiasm of friends and the action of apologists for a maligned church who were eager to advertise the outstanding accomplishments of one of its members.

8 Pratt's published problems include: "Six Original Problems," Analyst, 3 (November 1876), 186-87; "Problem 154," Analyst, 4 (March 1877), 6 3 ; and Problem 221," Analyst, 5 (September 1878), 159. Many of Pratt's astronomical speculations are found in Nels B. Lundwall, Wonders of the Universe; or, A Compilation of the Astronomical Writings of Orson Pratt . . . (Salt Lake City, 1937).

Pratt as a Mathematician

S3

This sentiment was undoubtedly nurtured by a remark made by scientist Richard Anthony Proctor.

Professor Proctor, the astronomer, while lecturing at Salt Lake City early in the "eighties," referred admiringly, almost reverently, to Professor Pratt, and gave it as his opinion that there were but four real mathematicians in the world, and Orson Pratt was one of them. 0

Since Proctor depended on his popularity with local audiences for his living, his exaggerated remarks about Orson Pratt were probably just good public relations. Whether or not Proctor was merely catering to a local crowd, Pratt certainly was not one of the four greatest mathematicians of his time. 10 Pratt's text on cubic and biquadratic equations did claim to include new and original theorems. In the introduction to his text Pratt commented, In the meantime, the Author begs the indulgence of the public for obtruding upon them new discoveries, new theorems, and new formulas, calculated to weaken the old methods of instruction which, through age, are so highly venerated among the learned institutions of civilised nations. 11

His calculus text also claimed to contain original theorems, and he published at least two presumably original problems in mathematics and several in physics and astronomy. Pratt left in manuscript several problems and their solutions which he clearly felt were original. 12 Viable original mathematics may be divided into two broad categories. The first consists of truly great mathematics that changes the whole pattern of mathematical thought and development. Descartes's discovery of analytic geometry and Galois's work in algebra are examples from this category. The second consists of modifications and improvements of already recognized mathematical theories. These modifications are sometimes quite trivial or simple. In a master's thesis at the University of Utah William J. Christensen cites evidence that all of Pratt's discoveries in his Cubic and Biquadratic Equations were well "Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1892-1904), 4:29.

For a concise description of mathematics and the mathematicians of Pratt's day, see H. B. Griffiths, " 1 8 7 1 : Our State of Mathematical Ignorance," American Mathematical Monthly, 78 (December 1971), 1067-85.

11 Orson Pratt, New and Easy Method of Solution of the Cubic and Biquadratic Equations Embracing Several New Formulas . . . (London and Liverpool, 1866), vi.

12 These undated Notes on Higher Mathematics and Science are in the Pratt Papers and may or may not have been published.

10

64

Utah Historical Quarterly

known before Pratt's time.13 It appears more correct to say that Pratt's discoveries were not in any way significantly new but that they may indeed have varied slightly from previously published works. In this sense they were original, and unquestionably Pratt sincerely believed them to be.

Pratt's equation of differences14 is an example of original mathematics that shows just a slight variation of a well-known mathematical technique. Lagrange (1736-1813) formed an equation whose roots were the squares of the differences of the roots of a given equation.

He used this new equation to get a numerical solution to the original equation. Pratt, in essentially the same way as Lagrange, derived an equation whose roots were the differences of the roots of the given equation. He then used this equation in much the same way as Lagrange used his. Since most of Pratt's original theorems are obviously only slight modifications of well-known existing ones, and because his text indicates he was familiar with the works of Lagrange,10 it is very doubtful that Pratt was claiming anything more than a minor modification in Lagrange's equation. Sometimes slight modifications in a mathematical procedure can have great practical benefits. Horner's method of obtaining a numerical solution to a polynomial does not contain any significantly new or great mathematical ideas, but as a practical way of computing the numerical solution, it was vastly superior to anything that preceded it. Pratt was attempting to do the same sort of thing that Horner did but unfortunately was not so successful.

Pratt's new equation was of some value, if only to stimulate interest in the general problem of obtaining a numerical solution to a polynomial. In a letter of September 6, 1876, Joel E. Hendricks, the editor of the Analyst, acknowledges the receipt of a copy of Pratt's book and makes this comment: I have no recollection of ever having seen a general equation representing the differences of the roots of Algebraic Equations, and have

13 William J. Christensen, "Critical Review of Orson Pratt Sr.'s Published Scientific Books," (M.A. thesis, University of Utah, 1929), 14, 19, 22-23, 26-27, 47.

11 Pratt, Cubic and Biquadratic Equations, 26-28.

15 Pratt mentions Lagrange in his algebra text {ibid., 9 7 ) . He also refers to works by J. R. Young (see ibid., 134, 151), including one entitled Theory and Solution of Algebraical Equations of the Higher Orders (1843). The author has been unable to locate this book.

But a text by J. R. Young, Theory and Solutions of Algebraic Equations (London, 1835), does include Lagrange's equation of the squares of the differences (pp. 2 1 2 - 1 3 ) . Since the text Pratt cites appears to be a later edition of the 1835 book, it could very likely include Lagrange's equation as well. In any case, it is highly unlikely that Pratt was not aware of Lagrange's equation.

Pratt as a Mathematician

65

no doubt your discovery of the Equ. is new. And you seem to have applied it very profitably in the solution of equations. 1 0

The crucial point in evaluating Pratt as a mathematician is not one of originality but one of the quality of his work. Whether or not Pratt was actually the first to obtain any of his original results is somewhat inconsequential. Had he produced significant results independently of others, even after these results were published, we would be obliged to conclude that Pratt was a first-rate mathematician. But Pratt's work was not of high quality.

The following example from Pratt's calculus text is quite typical of his original work.17 The result took some mathematical ability to obtain; but, since his theorem follows easily from a well-known theorem, any competent contemporary mathematician would have thought of the theorem and been able to derive it. If the theorem were original with Pratt, it was more likely because no one else had thought the result worthwhile, than because Pratt had had mathematical insight.

Prop, xx xii: 99. T o find a general logarithmic theorem for the differentiation of xn

u = zXl. . •

, z, x 1} x 2 etc. being functions of one variable as x.

Using the above prop.,

18

du = dzXl

dz

(!

logz

/ d X] \

Xi

1-

x

x3

< . . •

*„

'

+

logXi °

Xi

/dx.,

- + \x2

/ dx, logXo

63.

\

x.

4- . . . 4-

'" Letter in File 13, Box 4, Pratt Papers. ' ' T h i s proposition was later published as a problem in the Analyst, 18

4 (March 1877),

The proposition referred to is the well-known result of elementary calculus: if u = z y , z,y functions of some variable such as x, then d u = z y logz dy4-yz y_1 dz.

Utah Historical

66

logxn_o

( % *

' -

â&#x20AC;˘%)

Quarterly

) . . . ) ) ) .

Even though Pratt was not a creative mathematician of sufficient ability to deserve acclaim as one of the outstanding men in the history of mathematics, his competence was really quite remarkable for a man of his background and time. The American frontier produced few mathematicians. Even in the centers of eastern erudition, mathematics in this country was not so advanced as it was in Europe.

Although some high quality mathematical work had been done in the United States in the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century, this country's first true research periodical, the American Journal of Mathematics, did not appear until 1878, and the American Mathematical Society was not founded until 1888.

Astronomical observatory used by Orson Pratt, ca. 1871, was located in the southeast corner of Temple Square.. Slots, closed in photograph, would provide a full view of the sky from north to south for two transits.

From Art Work of Utah.

m':M.'U'f ffrf4>;' ,â&#x20AC;˘

Pratt as a Mathematician

67

Pratt's mathematical papers in the LDS Archives show that he possessed an impressive breadth of mathematical knowledge. He was conversant with Hamilton's work on quaternions as well as articles in the American Journal of Mathematics which began publication when Pratt was in his sixty-seventh year. To compare Pratt with contemporary professional mathematicians in Europe, or even the United States, certainly is not fair. He lacked not only formal education but association with, and criticism from, other mathematicians. More importantly, Pratt followed mathematics as an avocation and exerted his greatest efforts elsewhere.

It is natural to wonder whether Pratt would have been a great mathematician if he had had sufficient opportunities to study mathematics.19 Anything, of course, is possible, and Pratt would have undoubtedly benefited from a formal, high quality mathematical education. But others have achieved prominence in mathematics even though they were amateurs or poorly educated. Vieta, who did much of the work in the theory of equations with which Pratt's published text deals, was an amateur mathematician. And Ramanujan, one of the remarkable mathematicians of this century, produced first-rate mathematics with a limited education and an outdated text as his sole reference.

Although Pratt was not a great mathematician, he was active, if only in a modest way, in mathematical work during its developmental stages in this country. He was also important as an educator of science in the Mormon community.

Orson Pratt's primary efforts were devoted to religion and not mathematics, but his creative mind, capable of dealing with difficult abstractions, not only enabled him to understand mathematical concepts but was the source of many of his outstanding contributions to his church.

Pratt has often been contrasted with Brigham Young. Young was the consummately practical man, enormously successful as a church administrator and as a colonizer of the West. Pratt, on the other hand, was the absent-minded college professor, often shabbily dressed and highly impractical. As T. Edgar Lyon observes,

19 Bayard Mendenhall, " T h e Philosophic and Scientific Works of Orson Pratt," an unpublished paper presented at the Timpanogos Club, Salt Lake City, April 15, 1943, pp.

22-23, typescript, LDS Archives.

68

Utah Historical Quarterly T h e difference in outlook between Brigham Young and Orson Pratt is nowhere more clearly seen than in the analysis of the sermons they delivered during their short sojourn in Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847. Young devoted his public utterances almost entirely to practical affairsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;timber, land and water policies; fencing; housing; farming; adobe m a k i n g ; etc. Pratt had traveled the same route as Young, but he had been studying the scriptures as he traveled slowly westward and had reacted in a religious rather than economic m a n n e r to the new situation. His creative mind saw in the settlement within these mountain valleys the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Zion. 20

Abstract ideas, whether scientific or religious, are seldom of any immediate utilitarian value. Ultimately, however, they often prove to have immense practical value. The basic abstract theories of science usually provide the fundamental principles upon which many technologies depend. Pratt's conception of the Mormons' fulfilling prophecy in Isaiah offered them little in the way of food and shelter, but its importance in their colonization of the West was enormous. It was this abstract idea that helped to convert thousands in Europe and to sustain them in the hardships of immigration and colonization.

Certainly a man with Brigham Young's qualities was crucial to the survival of the Latter-day Saints, but Pratt also had an immeasurable effect on his church's development. A man who can gaze up at the stars while exiled in Iowa and see the need for liberal education among a people fighting the desert for enough to eat is a man who is looking to the future. Such a man is vital to the success of any society.

20

T. Edgar Lyon, "Orson Pratt: Pioneer and Proselyter," Utah Historical Quarterly, 24 (July 1956), 263.

H O M E M A N U F A C T U R E . â&#x20AC;&#x201D; M e s s r s . Latimer, Taylor & Co., who have shown commendable enterprise in importing wood working machinery and encouraging home manufacture in their line, are, notwithstanding the general dull times doing a rushing business. They turn out at their factory a large amount of ornamental scroll work, cornice brackets as well as manufacturing doors, sash, &c. They manufacture articles extensively from native lumber as well as that from abroad, having used about 275,000 feet of the former this season thus far.

(Deseret Evening News, November 11, 1873.)

Building erected for Young University at 233 West 200 North later housed Deseret Museum. In 1896 it was transferred to the University of Utah and finally became part of West High School. Courtesy of the Historical Department, LDS Church.

The Brief Career of Young University at Salt Lake City

BY D. M I C H A E L Q U I N N

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i \ LITTLE K N O W N CHAPTER in Utah's educational history concerns Young University in Salt Lake City. Prior to its official establishment in 1891, Young University was known as the Brigham Young Academy of Salt Lake City. In 1892 it was rechristened the University of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was known as the Church University. 1 Young University was of central importance because it was intended to become the Mormon institution of higher learning and "a high class university, second to none in the west." 2 Although of short duration, Young University became a determining factor in the survival and future development of three modern educational institutions: the University of Utah and the LDS Business College in Salt Lake City and Brigham Young University in Provo.

BRIGHAM Y O U N G ACADEMY OF SALT LAKE CITY

Young University's mercurial history began with the endowment of educational institutions by Brigham Young during the last years of his life. It is generally recognized that Brigham Young endowed land in Provo in 1875 and in Logan in 1877 for the establishment of academies, but his similar provision for an educational institution in Salt Lake City is less well known. On September 28, 1876, Brigham Young executed a deed of land for the establishment of an academy in Salt Lake City. Of the three, the institution intended for Salt Lake City was the last to develop.

The initial delay in establishing the Young Academy at Salt Lake City is understandable in view of the problems connected with Brigham Young's estate. Whereas Brigham Young deeded the property in Provo to a board of trustees comprised of Abraham O. Smoot and other nonmembers of the Young family, the Salt Lake City property was deeded to a board of trustees comprised of David O. Calder, George Reynolds, Hiram S. Young, Ernest I. Young, Brigham Young, Jr., John W. Young, and Willard Young. T h e presence of five sons of Brigham Young on a board of seven men certainly left the impression that the property had not really passed out of the hands of Brigham Young and his heirs.

Mr. Quinn is a candidate for a master's degree in history at the University of Utah and is also a historical assistant with the Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1 After 1892 the names Young University and Church University were used interchangeably, though the former was favored. This same practice will be followed in the article.

2 Deseret Evening News, January 11, 1892.

Young University

7/

Less than a year after Brigham Young executed the deed, his death initiated an inheritance dispute which put all of his properties on uncertain ground.

The dispute centered in a labyrinthine fusion of Brigham Young's private property with that belonging to the Mormon church. This may have been part of a conscious effort to circumvent the 1862 Morrill Act which limited the church's financial holdings to $50,000. The bitter contest between some of Brigham Young's heirs and the church over the settlement of the estate lasted until October 4, 1879, when an out-ofcourt settlement was achieved. 3 Lacking the more secure position of the property in Provo which had already been used for educational purposes, the Brigham Young Academy property in Salt Lake City fell more directly under the cloud caused by the estate imbroglio. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that there was no development of the Young Academy of Salt Lake City at that time.

The delay for the next few years seems to have resulted from the personal circumstances of the trustees. George Reynolds was imprisoned from June 1879 to January 20, 1881, because of his plural marriages.

Ernest I. Young died four days following the settlement of his father's estate, and his brother Willard left Salt Lake City in 1879 to become an instructor at West Point Military Academy, rarely visiting Utah until he completed his teaching duties four years later. None of the trustees seems to have been anxiously concerned about carrying out the wishes of Brigham Young for the school until the return of Willard Young to Salt Lake City in August 1883.

In fact the history of Young University and the Church University is inseparable from Willard Young, who was the prime mover in its establishment. Born in 1852, he was the youngest member of the trustees appointed by his father for the projected academy in Salt Lake City.

Willard graduated from West Point as a commissioned lieutenant, the first Mormon to do so. Trained as a civil engineer, he returned to West Point to teach civil and military engineering. A man of enormous energy and vitality, Willard disrupted the lethargy of the other trustees shortly after his return in the summer of 1883.

He began this enterprise on September 10, 1883, by talking with his brother John W. Young about holding a meeting of the board of

3 Leonard J. Arrington, " T h e Settlement of the Brigham Young Estate, 1877-1879," Pacific Historical Review, 21 (February 1952), 1-20.

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Utah Historical

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trustees. 4 T h e minutes of this board are not extant, but from the available diaries of the board members, it would appear that there had been no meeting of the trustees until Willard Young began urging it. His journal indicates that this first meeting occurred on September 15, 1883 : Meeting of Board of Trustees of B. Y. Academy of Salt Lake in evening. John W. Brigham D.O.C. Bro Reynolds & myself present. We determined to go ahead & establish a school if possible. Brigham & I appitd a committee to wait upon Bro Taylor & confer with him on following points. 1st if he approvd of our going ahead, 2 if he objected to Bro. T. B. Lewis as principal 3 if Don Carlos should be put on Board in Ernest's place. 4 if he would rent Cannon house. 5 if he would help financially.5

In a meeting on September 19, the trustees examined the deed, "and when we saw its conditions were puzzled to know what to do." T h e exact nature of the problem was not specified, but later that evening, the trustees considered the possibility of turning the land over to the Salt Lake Eighteenth Ward or selling the land and giving the proceeds to the Brigham Young Academy at Provo. 6 Although the obstacle in the deed was apparently clear to the trustees, the cause for their concern is not readily apparent in the deed itself. With the exception of the names of the trustees, the location and description of the property, and such minor word substitutions as "property" for "real estate," the deed for the Salt Lake school is a verbatim version of the earlier deed providing for the BYA at Provo, which had already been in operation for seven years. The only substantive differences in the two documents were provisions in the Salt Lake City deed which specified that the LDS canon of scripture "shall be standard Text books" and a further caveat prohibiting the use of any books derogatory to Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, or to "the principles of the Gospel." 7 It is unlikely that such conditions would pose a threat to the establishment of the institution. Whatever the nature of the obstacle, the trustees decided to continue their plans for establishing the institution in Salt Lake City.

4 Willard Young Journal, April 27, 1883, to December 31, 1883, entry of September 10, 1883, holograph, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, Salt Lake City, hereinafter cited as LDS Archives.

5 Ibid., September 15, 1883.

0 Ibid., September 19, 1883.

7 Deed of Transfer, Brigham Young to David O. Calder et al., September 28, 1876, notarized manuscript copy, uncatalogued subject file for Young University; and Deed of Transfer, Brigham Young to Abraham O. Smoot et al., October 16, 1875, typed copy, "Journal History of the Church," October 16, 1875, pp. 2-4, both in LDS Archives.

Young University

73

The problem with the deed posed only a temporary deterrent, but the trustees soon found a more formidable obstacle in the person of John Taylor, president of the LDS church. In meetings with Willard Young on September 16 and September 20, Taylor had declined to give his opinion of the proposal. On September 21, Willard Young discussed the proposed academy with Taylor's counselors, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, who gave him hearty personal encouragement, but indicated he might find opposition from President Taylor. The following day, Willard Young had another audience with John Taylor, who "was not favorable though he wanted me to see how much money I could raise toward starting it." Taylor's personal opposition to the project was so disheartening to the trustees that they voted that evening to sell the property and give the proceeds to the BYA at Provo. 8 Taylor's opposition to the proposed Young Academy at Salt Lake City is significant. In one respect, it could be argued that this opposition derived from his concern about the possible confiscation of properties belonging to the church. Such an interpretation, however, would erroneously anticipate the later maneuverings of Mormon authorities to avert the worst of the 1887 Edmunds-Tucker Act. In the fall of 1883, the federal " R a i d " on polygamy was in its initial stages, John Taylor was still a public figure and not in exile, and church business was operating on a fairly normal basis.

Avoiding confiscation was not the source of Taylor's opposition to the academy, nor can his position be explained as simply an effort to avoid spending large amounts of money to erect and establish such an academy. Willard Young had asked for the privilege of inaugurating the academy in the Lion House, which would have reduced the budget virtually to the employment of instructors. This John Taylor also denied. 9 Although an economic explanation of Taylor's opposition is open to question, a more personal explanation of his position may be possible.10 The lands for these academies had been deeded by Brigham Young as though they were his personal propertiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;said academies to bear his name and to be subject to control by his heirs. In the fusion of his personal finances with those of the church, however, it is by no means clear that these lands were his personal property. It is possible that this s

Willard Young Journal, September 16, 20, 21, and 22, 1883.

Ibid., September 25, 1883.

10 In regard to his opposition deriving from a desire not to establish another academy that would compete with the University of Deseret (renamed University of Utah in 1892), see discussion of the Salt Lake Stake Academy below.

0

J4

Utah Historical Quarterly

donated real estate had been acquired by Brigham Young with church funds and that the donation, therefore, was not a personal one. There are also indications that John Taylor and Brigham Young may have had personal disagreements of such a nature as to make each of the men to some extent unsympathetic to the personal programs of the other.11 Assuming a degree of personal estrangement from Brigham Young and recognizing John Taylor's unpleasant experience with several of the Young heirs over the estate, his disinclination to further the cause of the proposed Young Academy is more understandable.

Although Taylor was cool to the idea of furthering the academy, Willard Young, after a three-hour meeting with the president, obtained his acquiescence in the project. It was a hollow achievement, however, because it involved no financial assistance from the church. Furthermore, the same day Willard Young obtained this concession, he received military orders to report to Portland, Oregon.12 During his remaining week in Salt Lake City, Willard feverishly tried to obtain financial donations from interested parties. Lacking substantial success elsewhere, he decided to sell some of his personal property in Salt Lake City and donate the proceeds to the academy. Taylor accepted the property in exchange for 100 shares of Utah Central stock.13 This was the extent of his support of the project.

Following Willard Young's departure from Salt Lake City on October 1, 1883, there was no further progress toward establishing the institution. In his absence labors of the other trustees seem to have been limited to an interview given by Don Carlos Young to one of the Salt Lake newspapers, which was almost plaintively titled, "The Young Academy, President Young's Munificent Intentions, Will They Be Carried Out?" 14 That was a question which remained unanswered throughout John Taylor's administration.

On the other hand, Taylor reacted favorably toward the proposed Salt Lake Stake Academy. In July 1886, William B. Dougall suggested to Karl G. Maeser the possibility of establishing a stake academy at Salt Lake City. When the First Presidency was asked about such a proposition, "the movement received their hearty endorsement, Prest.

" A b r a h a m H. Cannon Diaries, December 29, 1889, to July 15, 1890, entry of April 9, 1890, pp. 121-22, photocopy of holograph, Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

12 Willard Young Journal, September 25, 1883.

13 Ibid., September 26 to October 1, 1883.

14 Salt Lake Herald, September 14, 1884.

Young University

75

Taylor giving the free use of the Social Hall basement for the purpose." 15 The contrast between Taylor's reaction to this proposal and to that for the Young Academy seems evident. The only material difference in favor of establishing the Salt Lake Stake Academy in 1886 was that it would not bear Brigham Young's name, be connected with his estate, or be controlled by his heirs.

Y O U N G UNIVERSITY

After the death of John Taylor in 1887, his successor Wilford Woodruff resurrected Brigham Young's program of establishing academies. O n April 5, 1888, the General Church Board of Education was organized at the LDS General Conference. Within the year, eighteen academies were organized and put into operation through the ecclesiastical stakes of the church. The inauguration of this program reflected, as one researcher has commented, a counterattack against the economic and political thrust of the "Raid." It channeled church properties and funds into education, where they would presumably be safer from confiscation, and it also responded to the sectarian educational program which by 1888 had ninety-three denominational schools operating within the territory. 16 After a ten-year lull, the Mormon leadership had begun an active program of sponsoring increased secondary education in Utah.

This educational emphasis by Wilford W'oodruff caused a renewed interest in Brigham Young's plan for an academy in Salt Lake City.

On June 8, 1888, the General Church Board of Education met and read over the deed of trust for the Brigham Young Academy at Salt Lake City.17 Following the meeting, Wilford Woodruff wrote a letter to Willard Young asking his aid in using the deeded property for the Salt Lake Stake Academy. 1S Young's response to this proposal is not known, but for whatever reason, the situation remained basically unchanged regarding the Young Academy.

It soon became evident that church leaders intended Salt Lake City to become the center of higher education in the church and in 15

Salt Lake Stake Board of Education Minutes, 1889-91, undated memorandum, p. 2., manuscript, LDS Archives.

111 Laverne Clarence Bane, " T h e Development of Education in Utah ( 1 8 7 0 - 1 8 9 6 ) " (Ed.D. diss., Stanford University, 1940), pp. 166-67.

17 General Church Board of Education Minutes, 1888-1902, June 8, 1888, p. 5., manuscript, LDS Archives.

18 Woodruff to Young, June 8, 1888, General Church Board of Education Letterbook, June 1888-March 1899, pp. 6-7, LDS Department of Education Collection, LDS Archives.

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Utah. On March 21, 1889, Karl G. Maeser, general superintendent of church schools, indicated the scope of that intention: Prof. Maeser being called upon explained his position as General Supt. of the Church Schools System and of the desire of the General Board to make Salt Lake School the leading School in the Territory with proper chairs endowed of such high grade as to preclude the necessity of our youth going away for education. 111

Maeser's remarks indicated that there were plans to establish a Mormon university in Salt Lake City, and he seemed to indicate that the Salt Lake Stake Academy would be that institution. The change of the academy's name on May 15, 1889, to LDS College appeared to be a step in that direction. 20 Within a year, however, Wilford Woodruff indicated that no currently existing educational institution was intended to develop into the Church University. Even on the day Maeser had spoken to the Salt Lake Stake Board of Education about a central church school, the deed for Young Academy at Salt Lake City was discussed. At a subsequent meeting, the stake board of education decided to ask the Brigham Young heirs for a quit claim deed, so that the land could be used for the benefit of the LDS College (Salt Lake Stake Academy). 2 1 In the absence of confirmation, it can be safely assumed that the heirs did not agree to such suggestions. It is not certain when Wilford Woodruff decided to establish a university distinct from the current church schools, but on May 1, 1890, he and his counselors wrote Willard Young, asking him to resign his commission in the army and become president of the new university. The letter indicated the scope of Woodruff's plan for the school.

O u r Church schools and academies are successful beyond our anticipations, and, as one step leads to another, we now find ourselves confronted with the fact, that to meet the educational necessities and desires of our youth, a University or other establishment of learning, in advance of any now in existence in our midst, must be opened where the sciences and arts, languages and technical branches can be taught by competent professors. [Italics mine] 2 2

19

Salt Lake Stake Board of Education Minutes, 1888-91, March 21, 1889, pp. 22-23.

Ibid., May 15, 1889, pp. 29-30.

Ibid., March 21, April 20, 1889, pp. 23,28.

22 Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith to Willard Young, May 1, 1890, Wilford Woodruff Letterbook, March-September 1890, p. 174, Wilford Woodruff Collection, LDS Archives.

20

21

Willard Young, president of Young University, and a portion of the document transferring land endowed by Brigham Young from his heirs to the trustees of the university.

Courtesy of the LDS Historical Department.

Long a champion of his father's plan for establishing a Salt Lake City school, Willard Young, now a captain in the U.S. Army, speedily accepted the offer, indicating he would return as soon as he could complete his resignation from the military.23 Brigham Young's intentions of more than a decade before were not only to be fulfilled but surpassed.

Willard Young returned to Salt Lake City on November 30, 1890.

A meeting with the First Presidency on the clay following his arrival began his marathon of activity toward establishing the new university.

His journal records:

Young to Woodruff, Cannon, and Smith, May 6, 1890, Woodruff Collection, Box 34.

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Call on Prest. Woodruff & have a talk about the School. They decide to call school Young University & instruct me to get title to land in 18th Ward. 2 4

Willard had his cousin LeGrand and his nephew Richard W. draft the transfer of title from the heirs of Brigham Young to a board of trustees comprised of nine Young heirs and seventeen others including the entire First Presidency, seven apostles, and one member of the First Council of Seventy. Leaving the legality of the transfer to his cousin LeGrand, Willard Young contacted the scores of Young descendants to obtain their assent to the proposed use of the land. The Board of Trustees of Young University had their first meeting on June 1, 1891,"" and on the following day public announcement was made of the establishment of the new university. 26 Unlike the previously established academies and colleges, Young University was designed to be an educational institution of grand proportions. Despite the financial squeeze on the church caused by the confiscation of its properties, the First Presidency had indicated to Willard Young in May 1890 the extent of their intended financial commitment to the Young University at Salt Lake City.

If the Supreme Court of the United States will only decide on the question of church property, so that the Presidency can know what our powers are in such matters and what we can rely upon, the Church would donate liberally towards the erection of the building. 2 7

With this understanding, Willard Young contacted the American Institute of Architects, asking for a recommendation of a highly qualified architect to design the buildings. He was directed to contact Bruce Price of New York City, who accepted the commission on June 29, 1891.2S Willard Young's choice of an architect was apparently motivated by a desire to have a man of acknowledged reputation: Bruce Price had served as the architect for the homes of Pierre Lorillard and Jay Gould as well as for the Saint James, International Bank, and American Surety buildings in New York City. 29 A week later Young informed the board 24

Willard Young Journal, December 1, 1890.

Young University Board of Trustees Minutes, 1891-95, manuscript, June 1, 1891, LDS Archives.

26 Deseret Evening News, June 2, 1891.

27 Woodruff, Cannon, and Smith to Young, May 1, 1890.

28 Price to Young, June 29, 1891, Young University file, LDS Archives.

29 Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. "Price, Bruce."

25

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of his offer to Price and presented a plan for a complex of buildings to comprise Young University. The board unanimously approved both.

Prest. C a n n o n expressed himself as strongly in favor of having whatever may be done, done in first class manner, such as to reflect credit upon us and our conception of the growth and development of our community. 3 0

The First Presidency of the church had committed itself enthusiastically to an expansive program for the university.

T h e next important development in the establishment of Young University occurred on December 30, 1891. In a meeting of the General Church Board of Education on that date, James E. Talmage was appointed to serve on a committee with Willard Young to take "immediate steps" to commence the school. An English convert, Talmage had been educated at Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University. He had been an instructor at BYA at Provo from 1884 to 1888, and since 1888 he had been the president of LDS College (Salt Lake Stake Academy) in Salt Lake City. Upon learning that he would be released from that position to work for the establishment of Young University, Talmage was exultant : This is to me gratifying news. I have long yearned to see an institution of learning established among our people, which should be a leading one in all good respects. 31

The choice of James E. Talmage as co-founder was an important one for Young University because of Talmage's eminence as a U t a h educator and his unswerving determination to establish the university.

T H E C H U R C H UNIVERSITY

During 1892, Young and Talmage devoted themselves to this work.

In January, Talmage proposed that Young University receive the Deseret Museum and all the properties of the Salt Lake Literary and Scientific Association. 32 T h e latter was a subsidiary of the church which had been established during the " R a i d " to have title to, and therefore protect from confiscation, church properties facing the Salt Lake Tem30 31

Young University Board of Trustee Minutes, July 7, 1891, pp. 11-12.

James E. Talmage Journals, December 30, 1891. By permission of John R. Talmage, Salt Lake City. n Ibid., January 5, 1892.

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pie. 33 Talmage's proposal and the expansive plans of the First Presidency for the new university made it increasingly apparent that Young University was rapidly outgrowing the original intents of Brigham Young. Young University was designed to diminish the importance of the other academies, to be the only Mormon university, and to be financed generously by the church.

Recognizing the increasing role of the LDS church in founding the new university, Willard Young on March 3, 1892, proposed to the General Church Board of Education that the church officially found the institution and that it be called the "University of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." He also offered a resolution to this effect to be ratified at the next General Conference. Concerning the proposed change of name, Talmage said, "Though all concerned seem desirous that the name of President Brigham Young should be commemorated in honor, yet it appears reasonable that no other power than the Church itself should found the highest educational institution of the Church." 34 In pursuance of this, Willard Young's resolution was presented at General Conference on April 4, 1892, and a committee of five men was appointed by the conference to present resolutions to the conference for the establishment of the university. On the committee were Willard Young, James E. Talmage, Karl G. Maeser (superintendent of all church schools), Benjamin Cluff, Jr. (president of Brigham Young Academy at Provo), and James Sharp (a regent of the University of Utah and member of the General Church Board of Education). On April 5, the committee presented a resolution on behalf of the general membership of the church petitioning Mormon leaders to found the institution, to call it by the name Willard Young had previously suggested, and that it be commonly known as "The Church University." 35 James E. Talmage and Willard Young had succeeded in committing church leaders to founding and supporting Young University and had also put the church membership under a virtual covenant to support it. By so doing, they had relegated the previously established and currently expanding church schools to a subordinate role. On June 16, 1892, Karl G. Maeser announced, "It was now designed that the 33 Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic Saints, 1830-1900 (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 362-63.

34 Talmage Journals, April 2, 1892.

35 Deseret Evening News, April 4 and 5, 1892.

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L.D.S. College, the B.Y. Academy at Provo and the B.Y. College at Logan would do the work of a University until such time as a University could be established.36 Implicit in this decision was the idea that once the Church University at Salt Lake City was established the other institutions would not be allowed to teach college level courses. Less than two weeks later, Willard Young as president of the Church University was given supervisory control over LDS College (Salt Lake Stake Academy) and was soon granting final approval in such matters as the salaries of its instructors.37 As the Church LJniversity expanded, this supervisory control by its president quite naturally would have extended to the other academies as well. Moreover, having1 voted for the Church University, Mormons in Utah had a more than casual commitment to sustain it. Therefore, throughout 1892 the prospects for the new Church University could hardly have appeared more assured.

The situation for the Church University changed rapidly, however, during the next year. The financial Panic of 1893 gripped the Utah economy, which had been largely untouched by previous national panics.

By 1893 Utah's economy had become more integrated with that of the nation and therefore was hit hard by the national depression.3" Apostle John Henry Smith's journal indicated the severity of the Panic in the church. "I was in company most the day with the Presidency. Money matters are simply desperate, no person to know how to turn in order to meet their obligations."' Under stringent financial necessity, the General Church Board of Education on August 11, 1893, decided to close twenty of the church schools and to postpone the first session of the Church University. James E. Talmage, however, was determined that the Church University should open its doors for the 1893-94 academic year. On August 26 he offered an alternative proposal.

I laid before the Committee the following p l a n s : â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 1 . that certain rooms in the new building be granted to the Latter-day Saints College free of rent for the use of that institution during the ensuing year; 2. T h a t the Church University institute full class courses in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, for the conducting of which I assume the whole

30 LDS College Association Minutes, 1891-94, June 16, 1892, p. 92, manuscript, LDS Archives. '''Ibid., June 28, 1892, February 17, 1893.

38 Leonard J. Arrington, " U t a h and the Depression of the 1890's," Utah Historical Quarterly, 29 (January 1961), 5-6. â&#x20AC;˘"'John Henry Smith Journals, July 1, 1892 to October 31, 1893, entry of August 7, 1893, p. 182, photocopy of holograph, Western Americana, University of Utah.

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labor, dispensing with the two assistant teachers intended for the work, and using only the men at present working in the institution (draughtsman, clerk, and janitor) ; 3. T h a t all qualified applicants from among the College students be admitted to these courses free of charge, and the College be thus relieved of the responsibility and expense of conducting any classes in these branches; 4. T h a t a thorough course of popular public lectures be established under the auspices of the University.

The board accepted these recommendations and opened the way for Young University, or the Church University, to begin its work.40 Despite the Panic of 1893, the Church University demonstrated notable vitality. It opened its doors, at 233 West 200 North Street, in September of that year with an impressive enrollment. Talmage was surprised at the large attendance at his daytime classes in chemistry and natural philosophy and noted that between two hundred forty and two hundred fifty regular students attended evening lectures as well.41 Besides his academic lectures during the week, Talmage conducted theology classes for the Church University on Sundays; no doubt these were also well attended. 42 In addition to Talmage, Richard T. Haag continued his services, presumably teaching German, for the Church University through March 1894.43 The Church University gave every indication of becoming a permanent institution.

Despite this encouraging first term, the Church University did not survive beyond its first academic year. From all available evidence it appears that the dire financial situation would have delayed, but not ended, the growth of Young University, or the Church University; it was political circumstances rather than financial considerations which prevented its further development. The closing of the Church University was demanded by, and directly aided, the already existing University of Utah. In addition, the closing of Young University aided the LDS Business College and more specifically contributed to the development of Brigham Young University.

T H E UNIVERSITY OF U T A H

In the preparations for Young University at Salt Lake City, there seems to have been little or no concern about competition with the 40 Talmage Journals, August 11 4 [Ibid., September 26, 1893ff.

42

and 26, 1893.

Church University Theology Class Outline, no. 9 (December 24, 1893), printed course outline,43LDS Archives.

Church University Accounts, 1893-94, Salt Lake Literary and Scientific Association, LDS Financial Department Collection, LDS Archives.

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University of Utah campus in the same city. At that time the two were separated by only a few city blocks, yet no mention of possible conflict or competition is found in the minutes of Young University, of the General Church Board of Education, of the Salt Lake Stake Board of Education, or even in the minutes of the Board of Regents of the University of Utah. Although a certain degree of competition was inevitable, no one was apparently concerned about it.

The circumstances of 1893 rapJames E. Talmage idly changed the situation between the two schools. The Utah Territorial Legislature in 1894 made an appropriation for the University of Utah which was marginal at best.44 The financial chaos of 1893 and the inadequate appropriation put the University of Utah in a precarious position. At this point, the Church University opened its doors for its first academic year and had attendance figures in the hundreds, even though only a few classes were being taught. The University of Utah enrollment for the same year was only 412 students.45 It soon became apparent that if the economic situation did not close the University of Utah, the new Church University would do so.

Under these circumstances, representatives from the University of Utah met with the Mormon president and asked him to close the Church University and save the University of Utah. The first recorded meeting for this purpose was on January 25, 1894, when Joseph T. Kingsbury and William M. Stewart of the University of Utah met with Wilford Woodruff and James E. Talmage. "These professors asked the Presidency to use the Church influence in behalf of the State University, giving up the present idea of advancing the Church University."

In addition, the professors proposed that in exchange for closing the Church University, Talmage would be appointed president of the Uni44 Ralph V. Chamberlain, The University of Utah, A History of Its First Hundred Years, 1850 to 1950 (Salt Lake City, 1960), 200-201.

"University of Utah Catalogue, 1893-1894 (Salt Lake City, 1893).

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versity of Utah. 46 Four days later Wilford Woodruff accepted the proposal concerning Talmage but stipulated that plans for a church university would be only suspended instead of being forever renounced. 47 In a subsequent development, the church was apparently also requested to provide financial support for the University of Utah.

Apostle Abraham H. Cannon recorded in his diary that on March 14, 1894, "President Woodruff decided that the Church will help to sustain the Utah University for the coming two years [italics mine] inasmuch as the Legislature failed to appropriate a sufficient amount of means." 48 As a result of this decision, the Board of Regents at the University of Utah unanimously voted on March 15, "that the University continue to run during the next two years." 49 To accomplish this, the church subsidiary, the Salt Lake Literary and Scientific Association, established the Deseret Professorship of Geology with an endowment of $60,000. 50 Through this direct subsidy the Mormon church kept the University of Utah alive.

There are several reasons why church leaders decided to abandon the Church University and save the University of Utah. Young University was a financial drain on the church, having required a $5,000 budget even during its limited first academic year. 51 Despite the church's financial difficulties, it is unlikely that the leaders would have abandoned their project for financial reasons alone. Previous expressions by the leaders, as well as the announcement of the close of the Church University, 52 made it clear that the Church University was intended to develop even at the expense of the other church schools.

One writer has suggested that there was also an implied threat that if the University of Utah had to close, the LDS church would be held responsible. 53 Considering that it was less than three years since Wilford Woodruff's Manifesto brought a dramatic lessening of church-state conflicts in Utah, the above interpretation seems plausible. The Liberal Party had dissolved only a month before, and politics in Utah had not 40

Talmage Journals, January 25, 1894.

Wilford Woodruff Journals, January 1, 1893 to April 18, 1897, January 29, 1894, p.

61, holograph, LDS Archives.

48 Abraham H. Cannon Diaries, January 1 to December 31, 1894, entry of March 14, 1894, p. 47.

49 University of Utah, Board of Regents Minutes, 1850-99, March 15, 1894, p. 325, University Archives, Marriott Library, University of Utah.

50 Ibid., April 9, 1894, pp. 328-29. " G e n e r a l Church Board of Education Minutes, October 16, 1893, p. 102.

52 James R. Clark, ed., Messages of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1833-1964, 5 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1965-), 3:262.

53 John R. Talmage, The Talmage Story (Salt Lake City, 1972), 123.

47

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yet overcome the Mormon-Gentile conflicts of the past. If the University of Utah had closed, it would have been easy to lay the blame on the Church University and charge the LDS church with undermining secular education in Utah. Such political considerations, though not directly mentioned, seem to have been implicit in the decision to close the Church University and subsidize the University of Utah. 5 ' The sacrifice of Young University was successful in saving the University of Utah. An initial payment of the $60,000 endowment was made by transferring $15,000 of scientific apparatus from the Church University to the University of Utah, the rest to be paid in cash.55 After the close of the Church University, its building (afterwards called the Deseret Museum Building) was leased to the state institution for $1,800 annually. In 1896, the University of Utah accepted the building as a final payment on the endowment for the Deseret Professorship of Geology.56 In addition to the transfers of scientific apparatus and the building itself, the church (through its subsidiary) made cash payments to the university for interest, which by June 30, 1899, totalled $900.5T In 1900, President Lorenzo Snow told members of the General Church Board of Education that the church had spent between $80,000 and $90,000 to support the University of Utah. 58 The University of Utah did not fail to indicate its gratitude for this vital assistance. Its general catalogues specifically referred to the $60,000 endowment until 1933, when mention of the endowment was discontinued. The Deseret Professorship of Geology was held by three men: James E. Talmage (1894-1907), Frederick J. Pack (1908-38), and Hyrum Schneider (1938-49). Following Schneider's retirement, officials of the university and of the church mutually agreed to discontinue the Deseret Professorship of Geology at the University of Utah.

54 Parenthetically it must be noted that Willard Young submitted a letter of resignation as president of Young University on December 5, 1893, a month prior to the meeting of the University of Utah professors with Woodruff and Talmage. At that time the Church University was prospering and it is unlikely that Willard Young< was divorcing himself from it.

This resignation was apparently a technical matter created by the change of the institution's name to) Church University. Rather than resigning from the school, Willard Young was resigning one title to adopt another. As evidence of this, the papers of the Salt Lake Literary and Scientific Association indicate that he continued to function in his capacity as president for over a year following the above resignation, and as late as April 2, 1894, he signed a letter as "Prest. Church University." (Church University Account, Salt Lake Literary and Scientific Association, LDS Financial Department Collection.)

58 Chamberlain, University of Utah, 204. r '" University of Utah, Board of Regents Minutes January 18 and August 26, 1896. '" Church University Account, Salt Lake Literary and Scientific association, LDS Financial Department Collection.

08 General Church Board of Education Minutes, June 25, 1901, typed copy, LDS Department of Education Collection. This information was not included in the manuscript minute book cited above, n. 17.

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Thus, the last reminder of this interesting bit of history slipped into oblivion.

LDS

BUSINESS COLLEGE

Although less directly, the LDS Business College also benefited from the demise of the Church University. Through a series of name changes, the Salt Lake Stake Academy evolved into the LDS Business College at Salt Lake City. As previously discussed, it was expected in 1889 that the Salt Lake Stake Academy would become the chief school of the Mormon church, and during that same year its name was changed to the LDS College. Within a year, however, Young University had supplanted the LDS College's importance. When Young University was designated as the Church University, a movement was made by Talmage to change the name of the LDS College to "Young Academy."59 The change of name never officially occurred, thus avoiding still another name confusion in the educational history of Utah.

Once efforts were made to establish Young University, the LDS College declined in stature. With obvious and understandable rancor, the trustees of the LDS College wrote the board in 1892: We were also given to understand that what was then the Salt Lake Stake Academy would in course of time assume the leading position in the system of Church schools, and of course all steps that were taken were based on that anticipation. . . . T h e n came the request to release Dr. Talmage from being Principal of the College, that he might engage in developing Young University, which is designed to overtop all other Church educational institutions. T h u s our prestige heretofore attained is taken away, and our opportunities for public financial support no longer exist. 60

When the Church University had to close, the situation did not improve for the LDS College, because the First Presidency had officially encouraged church members to support the University of Utah.

Although Young University's brief sojourn stunted the growth of the LDS College, it did eventually aid the school by turning over to the college in 1901 the balance of its property in Salt Lake City. As a result of the merger, as it were, of Young University with the LDS 59 00

Salt Lake Stake Board of Education Minutes, March 10, 1892, p. 85.

Board of Trustees, LDS College, to Wilford Woodruff, March 14, 1892, uncatalogued subject file, listed as Department of Education, LDS Archives.

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College, the name of the college was changed to LDS University. 61 The institution maintained that title until 1927, when the name reverted to LDS College. Aside from its schools of business and music, however, the L D S College was a high school, and in 1931 the college closed, leaving the McCune School of Music and the LDS Business College to continue.

BRIGHAM Y O U N G UNIVERSITY

Another interesting effect of the brief career of Young University at Salt Lake City was its role in transforming Brigham Young Academy at Provo from a neglected institution into the church's only university. Although this result was direct, it operated through an inversion : BYA at Provo gained ascendancy because of the demise of Young University at Salt Lake City and the ascendancy of the University of Utah.

The early decades of Brigham Young Academy at Provo did not indicate that church authorities had any grand designs for the institution. It undoubtedly fell under the same cloud during John Taylor's administration as did the Young Academy at Salt Lake City. Even after Taylor's successor put increased emphasis upon founding and supporting church academies, the appropriations from the Church General Board of Education indicate that BYA at Provo was not given high status. In 1891, for example, the board appropriated $2,000 for the Salt Lake Stake Academy (later LDS College), $1,000 each for the Bear Lake and Oneida academies in Idaho, and $800 for the BYA at Provo, putting it on par with the Sanpete and Box Elder Stake academies which received the same appropriation for that school year.62 A possible explanation for this situation is that the church leaders were determined at this point that Salt Lake City, as the capital of the territory and later of the State of Utah, should also be the capital of Mormonism and its educational system. Therefore, even though the LDS College at Salt Lake City was losing status because of the development of Young University, the church authorities gave the college in Salt Lake an allocation more than double that of the Provo school.

Moreover, as Young University was beginning its brief career, the continued existence of BYA at Provo became questionable. By March 81 Latter-day Saints' College Association Board of Trustees Minutes Book B, 1900-1902, April 5 and May 24, 1901, LDS Archives.

1:2 General Church Board of Education Minutes, September 4, 1891.

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1893 the Provo School was already $100,000 in debt. 63 O n August 11, it was rumored that the Catholics in Provo were buying up the notes of the debt-ridden school with a view to taking over the institution.

Mormon leaders discussed this situation for over a year, and on March 15, 1895, President Wilford Woodruff lamented: "I learned that the Committee could not Borrow any Money for the BY Academy Things looked dark." 64 Despite the concern for the BYA at Provo, it was the University of Utah which the church actively saved from closing.

Moreover, in 1895 the First Presidency apparently did not appropriate money to cancel the BYA's $100,000 debt, but on July 10, 1895, they did agree to offer that exact amount for an option on a new mine investment. 65 Church authorities clung to the hope of having the Church University at Salt Lake City, and, much as they disliked the thought of losing BYA at Provo, still they left its salvation primarily to residents of Utah Valley.

The failure to establish the Church University at Salt Lake City eventually, however, directed the interest of the church towards BYA at Provo. Benjamin Cluff, Jr., president of the academy, immediately recognized this new hope when he wrote a letter to George H. Brimhall about the closing of the Church University in Salt Lake City.

If reports are true concerning the uniting of the Church University with that of Utah, the Academy [Brigham Young Academy] will rise in importance and will easily be made the leading normal school in the territory [italics mine].GG

Cluff's assumption was well founded, because if the University of Utah would strenuously oppose the establishment of a rival university in Salt Lake City, this would add prestige to the Provo academy which had more students than any other church academy. Evidence of the growing favor of BYA is found in the appropriations for the academies beginning with the 1895-96 school year: the Provo academy consistently received double the appropriations awarded the LDS College at Salt Lake City.67 This reversal of the previous appropriations for these two church schools was almost certainly a direct result of the demise of Young University and the declining hope of having the Church University in Salt Lake City. â&#x201E;˘ Ibid., March 28, 1893.

Gi Ibid., March 28 and August 11, 1893; Woodruff Journals, March 14 and 15, 1895.

05 Woodruff Journals, July 10, 1895.

06 Cluff to Brimhall, January 26, 1894, quoted in James R. Clark, "Church and State Relationships in Education in U t a h " (Ed.D. diss., Utah State University, 1958).

67 General Church Board of Education Minutes, 117ff.

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Although BYA at Provo had won greater ascendancy as a result of the demise of Young University, it was several years before the church leaders gave the Provo school the status which Young University was intended to have had. They still wanted the Church University to be located at Salt Lake City, and it took years for them to become resigned to locating the Church University in Provo. Anthon H. Lund, member of the First Presidency and of the General Church Board of Education, indicated their feelings at the time the Provo academy was given the name Brigham Young University: The question about giving the name of a university to B.Y. Academy was discussed. Bros. B. Cluff, R. Smoot, R Young and Wilson Dusenbury spoke in favor of it. Pres. Smith emphasized that there would be no more money given to the institution. This was also the view of Bro J. Winder. I told them that I did not like the change of name in the L.D.S. College and I considered it was premature in this case also. I thought it was better to have a name a little less than we should do than use a title beyond us.r,s

In later years, the Provo school became the church's only true university and the center of the Mormon educational system. It was, however, a victory by default: a prominence denied to Young University at Salt Lake City by economic and political circumstances of 1893-94.

SUMMARY

Young University at Salt Lake City was an early effort to end the migration of Mormon youth to universities and colleges outside Utah.

It was also the church's first true effort to establish a university of such grand proportions that it could succeed in competing with leading educational institutions in the East. Because of its aims and because of its effect upon both the state and Mormon higher education, Young University is an important part of Utah's educational history.69 08 Anthon H. Lund Journals. August 23, 1903 to March 14, 1904, entry of September 30, 1903, microfilm of holograph, LDS Archives.

09 Young University or the Church University has consistently been confused with the LDS College, and most writers on Utah's educational history have been completely unaware of Young University. See Milton Lynn Bennion, "The Origin, Growth, and Extension of the Educational Program of the Mormon Church in U t a h " (Ed.D. diss., University of California at Berkeley, 1936); Laverne Clarence Bane, "The Development of Education in Utah ( 1 8 7 0 1896)" (Ed.D. diss., Stanford University, 1940); Leon R. Hartshorn, "Mormon Education in the Bold Years" (Ed.D. diss., Stanford University, 1965) ; and Royal R. Meservy, "A Historical Study of Changes in Policy of Higher Education in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Ed.D. diss., University of California at Los Angeles, 1966).

Utah's

Heritage.

By S. GEORGE

ELLSWORTH.

'Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith

Inc., 1972. 510 pp. $12.00.)

O n e of the most welcome volumes to come off the press in 1972 is this long awaited book appropriately titled Utah's Heritage.

T h e volume was designed a n d written primarily as a U t a h history textbook for junior high school use. I n addition, the general public will also find it a valuable source of reliable information. It is by far the best one-volume history of our state yet to appear.

Material of the volume is quite logically presented in four major parts, each of which is divided into units (eight altogether) a n d again subdivided into twenty-six chapters. T h e coverage is extensive, beginning with the physical setting, followed by "Early M a n in the M o u n t a i n West" a n d present-day Indian tribes. I n logical, well-organized chapters the reader is then led through U t a h ' s history from the arrival of the first white m e n (the Dominguez-Velez de Escalante Expedition of 1776) to " U t a h in World W a r I I " a n d " U t a h ' s Heritage T o day." Coverage is social, cultural, a n d economic as well as political and religious. N o n - M o r m o n as well as Mormon contributions are given fair and adequate treatment.

A major a n d outstanding feature of this book is the n u m b e r a n d quality of the photographs, paintings, maps, and other graphic materials found thereinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;there are over five h u n d r e d fifty of them. But, although these are very expertly reproduced, the reader will find it nearly impossible to identify

the photographer, artist, donor, or other source of the graphic materials.

T h e individuals w h o m a d e the donations will be able to locate their names in a "Picture Credits" section at the end of the bookâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but the reader will not take the time necessary to search out such identification. This is a serious fault.

T h e careful reader will find a few mistakes of names a n d events, two of which are here cited. O n e mistake which must have been either deliberate or carelessness in checking a source is found on page 100 where a quotation from Osborne Russell's journal describing an 1840 Christmas dinner is sandwiched between two paragraphs describing the gay times enjoyed by trappers at a rendezvous. Nothing could be farther from the t r u t h : Russell was merely visiting some friends. This quotation is cited from a secondary source â&#x20AC;&#x201D;according to the "Citations" page, but should have been cited directly from Russell's Journal. T h e mistaken notion that the Peter Skene OgdenJohnson Gardner (not Gardner Johnson) clash of 1825 on Weber River occurred in Mexican territory is perpetuated in the volume. While it is true that the U.S., by the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, h a d set out the 42nd parallel as the southern boundary of American claims to the "Oregon Country," Great Britain was not a party to that treaty. T h e fracas occurred in territory positively included in the jointly occupied territory from the

Book Reviews and Notices British point of view. T h e Americans were definitely out of bounds. T h e first edition of every book always contains some errors, most of which are corrected before subsequent editions.

Hopefully this will be the case here.

T h e format of the book, printing

91 job, The tion and

binding, etc., are very well done. volume is a significant contributo the literature dealing with U t a h the West.

DAVID E. M I L L E R

Professor of History University of Utah

"Photographed All the Best Scenery": Jack Hillers's Diary of the Powell Expeditions, 1871-1875. Edited by D O N D. FOWLER. (Salt Lake City: University of U t a h Press, 1972. x i i + 225 pp. $10.00.)

Publication of this beautiful book brings to the public the last known diary of the Major John Wesley Powell Colorado River expeditions. It is a remarkable portrayal of the photographs of one of the great photographers of the nineteenth-century American West. Jack Hillers met Major Powell in Salt Lake City in 1871 when he was hired as a boat hand for the expedition. After several photographers had found the work too arduous or failed to measure up to the major's expectations, Hillers learned the art. In a surprisingly short time he achieved skill and became not only the official photographer of the second Colorado River expedition but remained in that capacity in the service of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Smithsonian Institution until 1922. His photographs "played a vital role in documenting the researches of Powell and his staff." While only forty-four of the hundreds of photographs taken by Hillers are illustrated, they are carefully selected and beautifully reproduced in sepia and black. T h e reproductions may disappoint some historians of photography but very little of their beauty and artistry is lost. T h e examples of scenic views and Indian portraits show Flillers at his best.

T h e diary adds little information to the story of the second Powell Colorado River expedition. Through the efforts of the U t a h State Historical Society, the documentation of this exploration is incredibly complete. Yet Hillers's

diary tells us much about the trials and tribulations of the photographer. T h e necessity of polishing plates, laboring under great difficulties to take only three or four wet-plates, and the other complications of frontier photography emerge time and again from the matter-of-fact entries in the journal.

Dr. Fowler has chosen his materials well, fully annotated points of interest and concern, and provided generous bibliographic citations. Preceding the diary are concise sketches of the expedition, members of the party, and Hillers's biography and photographs.

Hillers's diary ends abruptly with a letter to his brother, "While I have time I will spin you my log." There follow comments about the Indians at Okmulgee, picture taking, and a hint that Jack was a ladies' man. In a few pages the live Hillers exposes himself in a charming, uninhibited narrative.

"Photographed All the Best Scenery," in addition to its importance among the records of the Powell expeditions, is a fine contribution to the list of monographs on the social history of photography and to the growing realization of the importance of this neglected source of American history.

T h e book will be of special interest to historians of the West and to those interested in applications of photography in the nineteenth century.

W I L L I A M C. D A R R A H

Professor of Botany Gettysburg College Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

92 Peter Skene

Utah Historical Quarterly Ogden's

GLYNDWR WILLIAMS.

Snake

Country

Journals,

1827-28

and 1828-29.

Edited by

I n t r o d u c t i o n a n d notes by DAVID E. M I L L E R a n d DAVID H .

M I L L E R . Hudson's Bay Record Society Publications, vol. 28. ( L o n d o n : T h e Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1971. l x x + 2 0 1 + x v i i p p . $10.00.)

Peter Skene Ogden led six expeditions into the "Snake C o u n t r y " between 1824 a n d 1830. T h e journals of t h e 1824-25 a n d 1825-26 expeditions were published in 1950 as volume 13 of t h e Hudson's Bay Record Society a n d the 1826-27 expedition in 1961 as volume 23. N o w the final two extant O g d e n journals, those covering t h e expeditions of 1827-28 a n d 1828-29, have been published. T h e journal of Ogden's sixth expedition to the "Gulph of California" was lost in a whirlpool a t the Dalles on July 3, 1830.

Prior to the publication of these attractive a n d well-edited volumes, scholars were forced to rely upon somewhat truncated versions which a p peared in t h e Oregon Historical Quarterly in 1909-10. These were copied

by Agnes L a u t from the originals in Beaver House, London, a n d subsequently edited for publication by T . C. Elliott. This reviewer used these versions in the preparation of a master's thesis on Peter Skene O g d e n some years ago a n d can n o w only wish that the complete journals h a d been available to h i m a t that time. T h e journals as published in the Oregon Historical Quarterly are abridgements with many days' entries deleted a n d with words a n d sentences left out, often changing the entire meaning Ogden wished to convey to his superiors at Fort V a n couver. Future students of this topic can now benefit from the careful scholarship of t h e various editors of the Ogden journals.

I n t h e volume a t hand, t h e Millers, father a n d son, have m a d e a n important contribution to o u r understanding of the activities of the Hudson's Bay C o m p a n y a n d their American rivals in the Northwest as they waged a fur cold

war. T h e role of Peter Skene Ogden as well as the roles played by various American trappers are n o w better understood a n d placed in proper perspective as they contended for fur trade a n d empire in the Oregon country.

An excellent introduction sets the stage for t h e two expeditions, a n d a fine summary of the journals is presented. But for t h e flavor a n d true character of Peter Skene Ogden, one must read the journals themselves.

Here the reader learns of the agonizing decisions confronting a brigade leader, of his leadership abilities, of his interest and concern for the welfare of his men, of his hatred for the Snake Indians, and of his intense loyalty to the British Crown as he competed with equally patriotic and aggressive Americans. T h e journals are copiously edited with every place name identified by its present name a n d location. This was m a d e possible by the extensive field work of the Millers during which they retraced virtually every step of the Snake Country Brigade on these expeditions. A large foldout m a p contained in an end pocket aids t h e reader in tracing the peregrinations of t h e brigade and helps locate it precisely at any given moment. An effort is m a d e to identify virtually every individual whose name appears in t h e journal entries.

T h e 1827-28 journal affords valuable information concerning southern Idaho, its flora, fauna, a n d Indian inhabitants. T h e 1828-29 journal records Ogden's adventures along the H u m b o l d t River which h e discovered at that time. This stream was known in the trapper period as Ogden's River, or Mary's River after his Indian wife, or as Paul's River after one of his men

Book Reviews and Notices who died along its banks. Ogden called it Swampy or Unknown River. None of these names was to endure. It remained for J o h n C. Fremont in 1845 to affix the name it is known by today.

T h e Hudson's Bay Record Society and the Millers are to be congratulated

93 for making available to students of the fur trade such important source material so brilliantly and carefully edited.

T E D J. W A R N E R

Professor of History Brigham Young University

The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West. Edited by L E R O Y R. H A F E N . (Glendale, California: T h e Arthur H . Clark Company, 1969 and 1971.

Vol. 7, 395 pp. $14.50; vol. 8, 396 pp. $14.50.)

Arthur PI. Clark Company and Leroy Hafen, both experienced publishers and editors of multivolume works, in the early 1960s planned a series to contain biographies of Mountain M e n and the fur trade of the West. They projected a series of about four hundred sketches to be incorporated in six or more volumes. They limited the sketches to between one and twenty-five pages, asked that they be based upon sound scholarship, and were most catholic in their inclusion of or definition of Mountain Men. Volume 1 of the series was published in 1965. When Volume 5 appeared, and the total number of biographies reached only 154, it was evident that more than six volumes would be required and that the series could not be completed by the target date of 1969.

In the latter year, volume 7 appeared, and volume 8 was published in 1971. These two volumes are here under review. However, in 1972, there appeared volume 9, the last of the textual publications, and the concluding one, containing the index to the entire series is now available. In the total number of volumes, there appear 292 sketches written by eighty-four contributors.

Volume 7 contains thirty - one sketches, and volume 8, twenty-eight articles. These are uniform with the series, all articles being placed in alphabetical order of the names of the

biographers. T h e sketches roam all over the nineteenth century but are principally related to activities in the first half of the century and from the Mississippi to the Pacific. T h e contributions vary in length, in importance, in style of writing, and in scholarship.

This reviewer believes that the best contributions in volume 7 are those of LeRoy and the late Ann Hafen on Fitzpatrick, Janet Lecompte's on Baronet Vasquez, and W. A. Goff's Reuben Smith. T h e best, or at least most scholarly, in volume 8 are Aubrey L. Haines's biographical sketch of John Colter; Janet Lecompte's on Jules De M u n , Antoine Janis, and James Pursley; Merrill Matte's articles on J. Robidoux and J o h n Dougherty; Harriet Munnick's on the Ermantinger brothers; LeRoy Hafen's Robert Newell; Doyce Nunis's W. Sublette; and Fred Voelker's Old Bill Williams.

In the series many minor characters and some few major ones were not included. In a number of instances it is questionable if the biographees really were Mountain Men. T h e level of scholarship in such a heterogeneous collection of biographical sketchesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; ranging in length from three to twentyseven pages in volumes 7 and 8â&#x20AC;&#x201D;goes from distinguished to pedestrian, with some articles of high calibre. T h e quality obviously fluctuates from author to author; this is to be expected.

In general, the sketches attempt to

94 emphasize the part each played in the fur trade of the West, with full biographical sketches on the lives of the men included.

There is no overall unity in the volumes. In each, the reader is referred to the long introduction of LeRoy Hafen in volume 1. Each volume contains as many photographs as could be obtained. Mountain AJen constitutes a useful tool and provides biographical sketches of many minor fig-

Utah Historical Quarterly ures. T h e series offers a valuable, easily accessible reference work, quite helpful to students of American history.

It is to be hoped that the culminating index, which will constitute volume 10, will integrate the series into a more systematic and meaningful work for researcher and student.

A. P. NASATIR

Professor of History California State University San Diego

Joseph Smith's New England Heritage: Influences of Grandfathers Solomon Mack and Asael Smith. By RICHARD LLOYD ANDERSON. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1971. x x + 2 3 0 pp. $4.95.)

This is an extremely disappointing book. It might have been one of the most important works on early Mormon history since the old genealogical studies of the 1920s. Instead, we are presented with a nearly inaccessible tangle of reprinted documents, facsimile reproductions of documents, narration, commentary, elaborate footnotes, and pictures. There is so much valuable information embedded in this book that future scholars will have to consult it, but the process will be painful.

T h e pain begins in the preface with some remarks about non-Mormon "pseudo-experts" on Mormonism and its founder. With so many writers of "imaginative literature as history," explains Anderson, "everyone has to take firsthand evidence and judge for himself." So he reprints certain basic documents in the history of the Prophet Joseph Smith's forebears, including Solomon Mack's famous Narrative (1811), accounts of Lovisa Mack's healing, Asael Smith's letters and verses, and John Smith's family history.

In accordance with the subtitle there are two narrative chapters on the family histories of Solomon Mack and Asael Smith; their influential wives,

Lydia and Mary, did not make the title page but are given something of their due in the narrative. About a third of the book (a good deal more, considering the smaller print) is devoted to documentary and content footnotes.

What Anderson has given us here is historical research in the service of denominational apologetics. T h e phenomenon is hardly restricted to Mormonism, and the bias can be useful.

But unlike other Christian religions with a tradition of learning, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has very little room for the application of the best methods of modern historical editing. Thus, there is no scholarly edition (as I have complained elsewhere) of the most important single document in Mormon history (aside from scriptural works), namely, Joseph the prophet's History of the Church.

T h e editors of that workâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Brigham H. Roberts was not the sole editorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;were extremely defensive about their church history.

They rearranged and even altered the prophet's prose and wrote elaborate footnotes to defend their faith, as they piously believed, from calumniating "pseudo-experts." Methodologically

Book Reviews and Notices speaking, Anderson's work, however praiseworthy for his choice of topic and however impressive his industry, falls squarely in this tradition. T h e tradition is strangely ironic in the light of the well-known, stupendous Mormon effort, unparalleled in the history of any movement, to collect documents relating to the church and to use them in genealogical and historical research.

Professor Anderson evidently anticipated criticism of his methods. H e writes that the documents are reproduced "for an audience not restricted to scholars." Scholars, however, are intensely interested in his topic and findings. And they cannot but be dismayed by his arbitrary judgments on how to correct and "clarify" the texts.

His justification might seem innocent: "Like much writing from [Solomon Mack's] time, his prose needs slight editing for good readability." But one becomes suspicious when he states further that he has cautiously changed punctuation and so sought "clarity by breaking down sentences into more readable units." One man's clarity is another man's tampering. O n further study the reader is downright upset when Anderson announces the omission of seven of the eleven verse compositions (hymns) in Mack's Narrative on the grounds that they are repetitive.

Surely, for a scholar trying to fathom the mind of Mack, that very repetitiveness is in itself significant. Still less justified is Anderson's omission of entire passages from the journal of John Smith.

T h e omitted passages, he asserts, are not directly relevant to the Smith family history; they are mere commentary "on the unfairness of the Mormon expulsion from Missouri or geographical and historical digressions on New England." But these passages throw light on J o h n Smith's conception of his family historyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to say nothing of their intrinsic interest to both pious readers and eager historians.

95 Anderson is engaged in no church conspiracy here; rather he is innocently following tradition: a narrowly genealogical and apologetical view of his topic, emphasizing sweetness and light.

"Joseph Smith," he concludes, "was like both grandfathers in patriotism, social concern, industiy, personal initiative, physical courage, indomitable will, loyalty to parents, tenderness to family, reliance on the Bible, and religious convictions so deep that he was impelled to share them with others."

This reviewer cannot really disagree with this assessment, but it omits a few weaknesses in both families that the prophet might also have inherited.

(And once again the grandmothers fail to make it to the credit line.)

T h e narrative parts of the book contain useful information, including brief introductions to the documents.

T h o u g h relatively satisfactory, these parts of the book are ill served by the ruthless oversimplification of maps and genealogical diagrams and by the crudely reproduced illustrations. Some of the illustrations are of historical interest, but one is startled by the inclusion of a Winslow H o m e r seascape, and all of the pictures are inadequately captioned.

T h e footnotes, hardly intended for a nonscholarly reader, are the most valuable part of the work. T h e scholar-specialist, if he carefully collates the narrative text with the content notes, is rewarded with many real contributions. Anderson has done some assiduous digging in ordinary genealogical sources and has corrected many longstanding errors concerning the early life of Solomon Mack, his age at death, and the date of publication of the Narrative.

H e has done a truly remarkable job of reconstructing the real estate transactions of the Smith and Mack families, a fact which almost excuses the defects of the work.

96 Anderson's refusal to use the standard criteria of historical editing makes it hard to get at his contributions or even to consult his book for specific data. Thus, in reading his reprint of Mack's Narrative the scholar must, since the footnotes are not tied to the Narrative itself, try to remember whether a birth date in the document is Mack's incorrect date or Anderson's corrected one. Neither bracketed corrections nor footnotes are there to help keep things straight, so the reader must chase down the details in three other parts of the book (pp. 6, 7, and 162).

Despite his important contributions in the footnotes, Anderson leaves many answ-erable questions unanswered: Did Lovisa Mack Tuttle live in Hadley or South Hadley? Did she die in Montague or Miller's Falls? How can Anderson mention the important petition signed by Asael Smith and Stephen Mack in 1794 without identifying the

Utah Historical Quarterly petition? Why does he not even discuss the location and nature of the variants of the John Smith journal?

O r the location and variants of LucyMack Smith's "Preliminary M a n u script" (first, unpublished draft) of her Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith?

Clearly Professor Anderson chose an important and fascinating topic, and scholars are indebted to him for some extremely valuable work in some primary sources. But this only intensifies the disappointment of the reader. For, all in all, Anderson has ended u p with a hard-to-use piece of failed scholarship, one that shows no comprehension of the harmfulness of its own idiosyncratic methods.

M A R I O S. D E P I L L I S

Professor of History University of Massachusetts Amherst

A Doctor on the California Trail: The Diary of Dr. John Hudson Wayman from Cambridge City, Indiana, to the Gold Fields in 1852. Edited by EDGELEY WOODMAN TODD. (Denver: Old West Publishing Co., 1971. xvi + 136 pp. $15.00.)

In 1849 a Hoosier doctor, James Vallores Wayman, set out "to see the Elephant."

T h r e e years later his younger brother, Dr. J o h n Hudson Wayman, was also smitten by gold fever. O n his trip west John not only kept an account but also wrote home several letters which are reproduced in this volume. His diary recounts details of the overland trail to California following westward from Saint Louis via South Pass and the Humboldt River to the Sierra Nevada.

T h e Old West Publishing Company, with its customary good taste in book production, has issued this well-printed and beautifully bound book which contains an introduction and copious notes

by Edgeley W r oodman Todd. Notwithstanding special efforts of both pub-

lisher and editor to make this a useful contribution, it is difficult to lift this diary to any plane of eminence in the literature of the westward movement.

It seems rather to be an ordinary account by a person of average literary skill concerning a commonplace experience. Perhaps the diary was considered publishable not because it was unique but rather because it was typical. Much annotation was required to give meaning to a document intended for personal use. With the passage of time and because the account was kept, not always faithfully, by a man whose "life was not spectacular" and who "achieved no position of prominence," it has been difficult to clarify editorially a number of passages.

Book Reviews and Notices Editor T o d d claims that Wayman was "a good representative of the class of professional people who joined the great migration to California in the middle of the last century." Evidence of his medical background appears in his frecjuent comments on conditions concerning medicine and health.

An especially good m a p of Wayman's route from Missouri to El Dorado is included, and the editor indicates that the thirty-two-year-old doctor utilized a popular trail book.

Piatt and Slater's Travelers' Guide. . . .

Once in California Wayman spent little time in Placerville, his first stop, pro-

97 ceeding from there to the Southern Mines at Sonora.

Later Wayman returned to his Indiana home briefly, then went back West, where he married the widow of Major William M. Ormsby in 1862. Final residence of the couple was San Francisco where Dr. Wayman was predeceased by his wife by some seven months, their respective deaths coming in 1866 and 1867.

D O N A L D C. C U T T E R

Professor of History University of New Mexico Albuquerque

The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth.

By T H O M A S D. BONNER. Reprint of the 1856 edition. Edited by D E L M O N T R. O S W A L D . (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972. xiii4-649 pp. $9.75.)

Whether James Pierson Beckwourth was, as described by J. Frank Dobie, "the champion of all western liars" (introduction, p. viii) or whether J. Cecil Alter is more correct in his observation that, "it is remarkable how closely historians follow him (Beckwourth) when other sources give o u t " (introduction, p. ix) is a question which will probably never be settled to anyone's complete satisfaction. Professor Delmont R. Oswald in his introduction to the volume is as objective in presenting the conflicting points of viewregarding Beckwourth's veracity as it is possible to be.

T h e fur trapper's mode of life, his association with and life among the Indians, was an open invitation to exaggeration of personal exploits and the telling of tall tales. T h u s , speculation on whether Beckwourth was more, or less, a departure from the norm than such redoubtable storytellers as Joe Meek and Jim Bridger is an issue this reviewer declines to belabor.

At the risk of committing historical heresy, I would suggest that Beck-

wourth's credibility, or lack of it, as to dates, events, and the part he played in the latter should not be a primary factor in assessing the merits of The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth. Rather, Robert Lowie's observation that Beckwourth "reproduces with admirable correctness the marital atmosphere of the Crow life in the 'twenties and 'thirties of the last century" (introduction, p. ix) points u p a major part of the worth of the book.

Beckwourth affords a more penetrating first-person insight into the psychological and mental make-up of the Indian and his way of life than most other fur trappers. Not only that, but this "buckskin con m a n " used this intimate knowledge to advantage for himself, his employer the American Fur Company, and, yes, his friends the Crows. For this picture of Indian character, customs, ceremonials, and superstitions, if nothing else, the book is well worth reading.

However, the most important thing about Beckwourth's account is his accurate predictions concerning the future

98 fate of the Red M a n . In this connection, one of his observations (pp.

346-47) is worthy of reproducing verbatim: "Those animals [buffalo] abounded by the thousands at that time where they are now [1853] comparatively scarce, and it is a conclusion forced upon my mind that within half a century the race of buffaloes will be extinguished on this continent. T h e n farewell to the Red M a n ! for he must also become extinct, unless he applies himself to the cultivation of the soil, which is beyond the bound of probability. T h e incessant demand for robes has slain thousands of those noble beasts. . . . Doubtless, when the time arrives, much of the land which they now roam over will be under the white man's cultivation, which will extend inland from both oceans. Where then shall the Indian betake himself? T h e r e are no more Mississippis to drive him beyond. Unquestionably he will be taken in a surround, as he now surrounds the buffalo; and as he cannot assimilate with civilization, the Red Man's doom is apparent. It is a ques-

Utah Historical Quarterly tion of time, and no very long time either; but the result, as I view it, is a matter of certainty."

This observation was made long before the white hide hunters discovered the commercial, although criminally wasteful, potential of the buffalo hide. It anticipates the failure of the Indian to become an agriculturist and clearly forecasts the future reservation policy.

Perhaps Beckwourth's term "surround" is not a generally accepted synonym for "reservation," but in this connection it will serve beautifully until someone comes u p with a better one!

Professor Oswald is to be highly commended for his excellent chapter notes which serve to correct Beckwourth's lapses of chronology and attempts at self-glorification.

Additionally, his brief prologue carries the narrative from 1853 to Beckwourth's death in 1866.

A L T O N B. OVIATT

Professor of History Montana State University Bozeman

The Passing of the Great West: Selected Papers of George Bird Grinnell. Edited by J O H N F. REIGER. (New York: Winchester Press, 1972. x-l-182 pp. $8.95.)

T h e yellow of autumn had enveloped the aspens when two young easterners momentarily paused in Utah's eastern Uinta Mountains. They had just sighted a young buck feeding in the w a r m t h of a high mountain meadow. Slowly kneeling one of the pair raised his Henry rifle and sighted along its blued barrel. T h e buck lunged suddenly at the sharp report, stumbled, and then moved off into the trees. Some thirty yards from the meadow the hunters found the still quivering body of their first kill.

T h e year was 1871, but in many respects this scene transcends mere chronology. For this young marksman

and his companion, George Bird Grinnell, it served as their initiation as hunters. This was their first year in the West.

Grinnell, who later recorded these impressions of his first big game hunt, was to return many times not only as a hunter and outdoorsman but as a scientist, ethnographer, and conservationist. He later founded the Audubon Society, became the editor of the influential outdoors magazine Forest and Stream (predecessor to today's Field and Stream), and was to be the conservation advisor to his good friend and hunting companion, Theodore Roose-

99

Book Reviews and Notices velt, with whom he co-founded the Boone and Crockett Club.

What Professor Reiger offers us in The Passing of the Great West is a glimpse of Grinnell's interesting life in the West to 1883 as seen through selected documents of this active man.

Grinnell's association with the West lasted with true Turnerian breadth through the Marsh, Ludlow, and Custer Black PI ills expeditions, through the great Indian wars, and was to witness the relentless settlement and exploitation of this vast region. His comments on the slaughter of the great buffalo herds or his description of range burning in Middle Park, Colorado, are poignant examples of this. T h e great variety of this material together with Dr. Reiger's editorial efforts have produced a work which is not only of genuine historical interest but which also strikes a sympathetic note with contemporary ecological concern.

T h e Grinnell who emerges from Reiger's editorialization is not the preservationist some have thought him but rather the outdoorsman and hunter whose philosophy resembles the multiple-use concept of today's Forest Service.

Grinnell witnessed the wanton destruction of the great forests and big game herds of the West, and later as editor of Forest and Stream he crusaded to conserve these resources so that they might be enjoyed by future generations of sportsmen. But Grin-

Polygamy Was Better Than Monotony. lore Press, 1972. 200 pp. $7.95.)

Paul Bailey is the author of nearly a score of books devoted to Mormons, Indians, adventurers, and builders of the West. Some are fictional; most are historical and biographical. His newest volume is dedicated to his grandfathers Forbes and Bailey of American Fork and Cache Valley and their plural wives. T h e provocative

nel's conservationist campaigns are not dealt with by Reiger. This is unfortunate, for even though they extend beyond the 1883 cutoff, mention of them would have helped round out Grinnell's character and explain away certain anomalies which exist between the hunter and Grinnell the "father of American conservation."

T h e quick glimpses afforded of such western figures as Custer, Buffalo Bill, Charlie Reynolds, Uncle Jack Robinson, and Judge Carter of Fort Bridger are tantalizing but brief, and one wishes more had been said of these individuals. There are also instances when Grinnell's prose becomes somewhat stiff and sluggish despite Reiger's excellent editing, but there is also an unmistakable eloquence and a sensitivity which characterize Grinnell's writings on nature, on the Indian, and on the West.

Grinnell was obviously ahead of his time as far as his preservationist attitudes are concerned, but he was not strictly a preservationist, for he would not lock up natural resources as the cxclusionist would. Instead, he would use these resources wisely while yet conserving them. The Passing of the Great West is an absorbing account of the molding of one of America's pioneer conservationists.

DAVID E. A T K I N S O N

Researcher Utah State Historical Society

By PAUL BAILEY.

(LOS Angeles: Western-

title does not reflect the seriousness of the work; it is neither coy nor insensitive. It is a book of sober cultural appraisal, a nostalgic account by an inquisitive youth who sometimes chafed under the strictures of a typical Mormon community after 1900 when polygamy was becoming a fading relic.

Divided loyalties are thoughtfully ex-

100 amined, filial affections tenderly recounted, a maverick father stoutly defended. T h e probing and introspective introduction, " T h e First Estate," describes the perils that await the nonconformist in a rigidly authoritarian society.

Bailey writes poignantly of his eighth year, the crucial age of accountability for a child "born under the covenant."

His foibles at this juncture are w-orthy of a M a r k T w a i n or a Stevenson: the humiliation of circumcision upon an unsuspecting lad minding his own business, the appalling discovery of tobacco in his pocket at the waters of baptism, the hilarious din of the ill-starred player piano turned loose in the middle of the Sunday sermon, the comfortable times spent in grandma's privy with the comic-papered walls.

Wry h u m o r and drawings spark the pages: the T h r e e Nephites are referred to as "leftovers," who were apt to "pop u p with bread and money when one least expected them."

Home-town

Utah Historical Quarterly primitives are cleverly depicted by artist Don Louis Perceval.

But there were sorrows too: the loss of an eye while playing ice hockey, the family home reduced to ashes from an overheated stove, the breakup of a marriage scheduled for time and eternity. Flashbacks tell of the "cohabs" hiding from federal agents in henhouses, haystacks, and potato cellarsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the two grandpas meeting for the first time in prison.

T h e final chapters speak of censorship of certain Bailey books in U t a h and their eventual acceptance.

He closes with words of love for his heritage and the hope that his comfortable old cloak will never be taken from him.

Polygamy Was Better Than Monotony is a beautiful book, a classic in the realm of homclv and intimate reminiscence.

L A M A R PETERSEN

Salt Lake

The 1970 Denver Westerners Brand Book. Edited by JACKSON C. T H O D E .

T h e Westerners, 1971. xviii4-467 pp. $15.95.)

As a charter member of the Denver Posse of Westerners, I a m proud of the twenty-six consecutive annual Brand Books produced by this organization.

T h e second "Corral," founded in Denver in 1945, has produced more volumes than any of the other posses scattered throughout the United States and Europe. Editor T h o d e , in the current issue, has assembled one of the most varied and interesting books in the series.

T h e first section of three articles is devoted to legends. H o w intriguing they are. Histoiy and legend are often so intertwined that separation of the two is difficult. T h e first of the three states that Rudyard Kipling wooed and won his wife in Salida, Colorado.

M r . Mooney, author of this article,

City

(Denver:

traces the origin of the story (at the time of Kipling's death in 1936) and its subsequent embellishment: and then demolishes the myth.

T h e second article discusses the intriguing and picturesque character O. W. Daggett and his Floly Cross Trail.

T h e third presentation is a discussion

by Dr. Rist that a Denver "newspaper man forty years ago started a commotion of international and incalculable significance. T h r o u g h a sheer journalistic stunt, wholly innocent in its intent, he started the Boxer Rebellion in C h i n a ! " T h e longest article (176 pages) and a most fascinating one, is Jackson C. Thode's "A Century of Passenger Trains, a Study of 100 Years of Passenger Service on the Denver & Rio

Book Reviews and Notices Grande Railway, its Heirs, Successors and Assigns." T h e informative storyis enlivened by seventy-six illustrations, many of them full-page pictures of trains. It is a delight for railroad buffs and historians. Similar in character is the story by M. W. Abbott of the "Incline Railways at Manitou Springs."

An article on M o n t a n a pioneer members of the Berkin and Allen families has U t a h interest. It tells of William Berkin's freighting outfit, using sixty bull teams with three wagons and operating between Salt Lake City and the M o n t a n a mines. T h e remarkable contributions of the Jews to the development of Las Vegas, New Mexico, is presented in an article by M. W. Gallon.

T h e story of notable Isadore Bolten, cattle king, is graphically told by Her-

101 bert P. White. An interesting biography of Dr. M. A. Couney, " T h e Incubator Doctor," is by Dr. L. J. Buttcrfield.

T h e intriguing story of Sylvia Smith, editor of the Marble City Times, her fight with the principal business in the "company town," her expulsion from the place, a n d the subsecjuent court fight she won are traced out and told

by J. F. Bennett. A detailed account is given by Nancy and Edwin Bathke of the rescue of two miners intombed in a Leadville mine for fourteen days.

Finaly, Mrs. Inez H u n t presents several delightful sketches of noteworthy persons in her article, " T h e Marryin' and the Buryin'."

L E R O Y R. H A F E N

Professor Flmeritus of History Brigham Young University

The Mighty Sierra: Portrait of a Mountain World. By PAUL W E B S T E R and the EDITORS OF T H E AMERICAN W E S T . (Palo Alto: American W'est Publishing Company, 1972. 288 pp. $17.50.)

T h e book is most refreshing and enlightening. Interest is captured from the very beginning with clear description and illustration that instill a longing to visit the Sierra. T h e reader receives the feeling to explore and investigate further or to revisit the area even though he may have visited, hiked, worked, or lived there previously. T h e book is directed towards various disciplines such as history, geology, biology, sightseeing, photography, sports, etc.

T h e format differs from the wellused introduction of historical facts followed by details. T h e various geographic areas are treated as distinct units with description spattered with enjoyable bits of geologic and cultural history. T h e chapter organization into specific locality or subject matter is helpful for rapid finding or recall of data. In addition, such things as the

glossary (short though useful), the index, and the sources and suggested reading (so needed in such a book) contribute to the use of the book as an excellent reference for the beginner or the more knowledgeable explorer of the Sierra.

Breathtaking color as well as effective black and white photographs lend a welcome break to the monotony of the printed page; however, they are grouped so as to avoid breaking the trend of thought. Although the photographs are excellent, many word pictures match or even excel those captured in the photographs.

Charts, tables, and sketches give quick access to a b u n d a n t data as do the maps by clarifying the location of various areas discussed.

T h e author catches the feel of the Sierra, probably supported by many personal visits, that engenders a certain

Utah Historical

102

Quarterly

awe yet respect for the area. T h e comparison of geologic time with that of everyday living lends a spirit of reality to the various historical events of the area. T h e book has a beneficial effect by introducing the reader to t h e lesser known areas, thus reducing the impact of tourism on the more specific a n d better publicized localities. Throughout the entire book the impact of man on the Sierra is brought to mind, thereby giving a greater realization of the potential danger of man's misuse of nature a n d its resources.

As long as m a n lives on the earth, future generations will contain those individuals who will long for the firsthand experiences with the wonders of nature found only in back country such as the Sierra. This well-written book can a n d will delightfully introduce to them the Mighty Sierra.

Occupied Struggle

ica gives a Chicano view of Manifest Destiny a n d its impact on the people of California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. "As such," Acuna notes (p.

122), "it is filled with the feelings a n d beliefsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the emotionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of Chicanos.

But it is a perspective that must be considered, for it is based on the reactions of Chicanos against continuing repression, against inequities, against second-class citizenship."

America: Toward

RUDOLFO ACUNA.

The Chicano's Liberation.

By (San

Francisco:

Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., Canfield Press, 1972. vi 4-282 pp. Paper, $3.95.)

This book by a Chicano historian at California State University at Northridge reviews the occupation of the American Southwest during the nineteenth century by the United States and the Chicano's struggle for liberation in the twentieth. Acuna views the Mexican-American W a r as an imperialistic conquest which was followed by the oppression of Mexicans in the United States. His thesis is that social domination a n d subjugation of the native population was a form of colonialism from which the Chicano has sought relief in recent years.

Designed for use as a text, but of broad general interest, Occupied Amer-

RICHARD W. M O Y L E

Professor of Geology Weber State College

The

Western

of Law

Peace Officer: A Legacy

and Order.

By F R A N K R I C H -

ARD PRASSEL. ( N o r m a n : University of Oklahoma Press, 1972. xiii 4-330

pp. $8.95.)

Prassel's observation that police work in the late nineteenth century Wrest differed very little from the routine of modern agencies a n d his conclusion that "frontier lawmen did not bring;

Book Reviews and Notices

103

peace a n d order to the American West" (p. 253) challenge two of many popular legends about western lawmen.

This book cuts through the stereotype of the flamboyant, badge-wearing, gunwielding marshal to explain the work of real marshals, sheriffs, private detectives, Pinkcrton men, Texas rangers, and other peace officers.

T h e author was trained in law a n d is a professor of police science at Sacramento State College. A thorough search through reminiscences, court records, manuscript material, a n d n u merous published accounts preceded the writing of this readable account of law and order in the West.

The Most of John Held Jr. Foreword by

MARC

by

CARL

CONNELLY. J.

Introduction

WEINHARDT.

(Brattle-

boro, V t . : T h e Stephen Green Press, 1972. 144 pp. $19.95.)

An outgrowth of the Smithsonian Institution's 1969 retrospective exhibit, this book brings together 117 of the Salt Lake-born artist's watercolors, pen and ink drawings, sculptures, a n d block printsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;38 in full color. They epitomize an era in American art.

John Field, Jr., became nationally known for his Flapper and Joe College, and many of his works appeared in the New Yorker a n d other publications.

H e is undoubtedly one of the finest artists U t a h has ever produced, a n d Carl J. Weinhardt does not hesitate to compare him with great caricaturists of other centuries.

T h e artist's brief accounts of his father's famous band at the Salt Palace and excursions into bawdy Commercial Street leave the reader hungering for a full-dress biography.

American

Folk Legend:

A

Symposium.

Edited by WAYLAND D . H A N D .

(Los

Angeles: University of California Press, 1971. x + 237 p p . $7.50.)

Contains J a n Harold Brunvand, " M o d e r n Legends of M o r m o n d o m ; Or, Supernaturalism is Alive a n d Well in Salt Lake City," p p . 185202.

Biographical By

Sketch

GRENVILLE

of James DODGE.

Bridger.

Reprint.

(Cheyenne a n d Wheatland, Wyo.: Triple R Press, 1972. 27 p p . $1.50.)

First published in 1905 a n d reprinted in Annals of Wyoming, October 1961.

A Catalogue of Theses and Dissertations Concerning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormonism, and Utah.

Compiled by BRIGHAM Y O U N G LEGE

UNIVERSITY,

OF RELIGIOUS

COL-

INSTRUCTION.

Provo: Brigham Young University Printing Service, 1971. vii + 742 p p . $10.00.)

The

Cattle

Kings.

By L E W I S

ATHER-

TON. (Lincoln: University of N e braska Press, 1972. xii 4-308 p p .

Paperback, $2.25.) Reprint of the Indiana University Press edition of 1961.

The Cowman Says It Salty. By R A M O N F. ADAMS. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1971. xvi 4-164 p p . $5.95.) A collection of cowboy sayings gathered in a lifetime of visiting bunkhouses a n d campfires, grouped into chapters on drinking, gunplay, rustling, range riding, oldtimers, etc.

The Denominators of the Fur Trade: An Anthology of Writings on the Material Culture of the Fur Trade.

By A R T H U R WOODWARD.

(Pasadena,

Calif.: Socio-Technical Publication, 1970. x i v + 7 3 p p . $10.00.) Illustrated report on trade goods, beads, w a m p u m , silver, tomahawks, Green River knives, etc.

104

Utah Historical Quarterly

Documents of Southwestern History: A Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Arizona Historical Society.

Compiled by C H A R L E S C. COLLEY. (Tucson: Arizona Historical Society, 1972. xxxii-l-234 p p . $20.00.)

Forts of the Upper Missouri. By R O B ERT G. ATHEARN. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972. xii 4-339 p p . Paperback, $2.25.) R e print of the 1967 Prentice-Hall edition in the American Fort Series.

Grassroots of America: A Computerized Index to the American State Papers: Land Grants a n d Claims (1789-1837) with Other Aids to Research. Edited by P H I L L I P W. M C M A L L I N . (Salt Lake City: Gendex Corporation, 1972. [vii]4-xxix4-489 pp. $27.95.)

Indian Battles and Campaigns in the West: Hostites and Horse Soldiers.

Edited by L O N N I E J. W H I T E .

Hill.

By J O H N

R.

MCDERMOTT.

(New York City: Grosset a n d D u n lap, 1971. 2 1 1 p p . Paperback, $.95.)

Novel based on the movie Joe Hill.

Metal Uniform Insignia of the Frontier U.S. Army, 1846-1902.

By SIDNEY

B. B R I N C K E R H O F F .

Plural

Society in the Southwest.

EDWARD

II.

SPICER

and

By

RAYMOND

(New York City: Interbook, Inc., 1972. 367 p p . $5.95.)

Contains an article by T h o m a s F. O'Dea, " T h e Mormons: Church and People," p p . 115-65.

THOMPSON.

Red Rock Country: The Geological History of the Colorado Plateau. By DONALD L. BAARS.

(New York City:

Natural History Press [Doubleday & Co.], 1972. 264 p p . $9.95.)

Saddles Saga.

and Spurs:

The Pony

Express

By R A Y M O N D W. SETTLE a n d

MARY

LUND

SETTLE.

(Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 1972. x-f-217 pp. Paperback, $1.75.) Reprint of 1955 edition.

(Boul-

der, Colo.: Pruett Publishing Company,, 1972. 220 p p . $8.95.)

Joe

R. MILLER. University of U t a h Anthropological Papers no. 94. (Salt Lake City: University of U t a h Press.

1972. viii4-172 pp. $6.00.)

(Tucson:

Arizona Historical Society, 1972. iv4-39 p p . $2.50.) Second edition, revised. Museum Monograph no. 3.

The St. Louis-San Francisco Transcontinental Railroad: The Thirtyfifth Parallel Project, 1853-1890. By H . CRAIG M I N E R .

( L a w r e n c e : Uni-

versity Press of Kansas, 1972. xii 4236 p p . $8.50.)

Sand in a Whirlwind: of 1806.

The Paiute War

By F E R O L EGAN.

(Garden

City, N Y . : Doubleday & Co., 1972. xviii 4-316 p p . $8.95.)

(San Jose, Calif.: Harlan-Young Press, 1971. xvi 4-221 p p . $7.50.)

The Skyline Synod: Presbyterianism in Colorado and Utah. By A N D R E W E. MURRAY. (Denver: Golden Press, 1971.

155 p p . Paperback, $2.95, Cloth, $5.95.) T h e Presbytery of U t a h is treated in one chapter.

Newe Natekwinappeh: Shoshoni Stories and Dictionary.

Compiled by W I C K

The Western Wilderness of North America.

Photography by HERBERT

Nevada

Nomads:

Industry.

A Story of the Sheep

By BYRD

WALL

SAWYER.

Articles and Notes

105

W.

GLEASON. Text by GEORGE CROSSETTE. (Barre, Mass.: Barre Pub-

lishers, 1972. 107 pp. $14.95.) Includes Gleason's early twentieth century nature photos of Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce national parks.

Yellowstone: A Century of the Wilderness Idea. By A N N SUTTON and M Y RON SUTTON. (New York City: The Macmillan Co. and Yellowstone Library and Museum Association, 1972.

220 pp. $22.50.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES Alexander, Thomas G. "A Note on the Sources for Utah History in the Denver Records Center," Utah History Research Bulletin, 1 (Spring 1972), 3-4.

Anderson, Leland. "Across the Continent: Important Northern Pacific Railroad Records Transferred from Seattle," Minnesota History News, 13 (August 1972), 3. More than a century of archival records given to Minnesota Historical Society.

Bishop, Delbert A. "Denver Federal Records Center," Utah History Research Bulletin, 1 (Spring 1972), 3.

Brandt, Armin. "Western Americana in Germany," The Westerners New York Posse Brand Book, 19, no. 2 (1972), 28-29,38.

Brennan, John A. "The University of Colorado's Western Historical Collections," Great Plains Journal, 11 (Spring 1972), 154-60.

Crawley, Peter. "A Bibliography of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York, Ohio, and Missouri," Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 465-537.

Freeze, Alys H. "The Western History Collection of the Denver Public Library," Great Plains Journal, 11 (Spring 1972), 101-15.

Hanna, Archibald. "An American W^est Treasure Hunt in Connecticut: The Frederick W. Beinecke Collection, Yale University," The American West, 9 (September 1972), 12.

Hansen, Ralph W., ed. "Among the Mormons: A Survey of Current Literature," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7 (Spring 1972), 110-15. Periodical articles on Mormonism.

Jacobsen, T. Harold. "The Utah State Archives," Utah History Research Bulletin, 1 (Fall 1972), 37.

Lovelace, Lisabeth. "The Southwest Collection of the El Paso Public Library," Great Plains Journal, 11 (Spring 1972), 161-66.

"Missionaries vs. Native Americans in the Northwest: A Bibliography for Re-evaluation," The Indian Historian, 5 (Summer 1972), 46-48.

IQQ

Utah Historical Quarterly

Ruoss, G. Martin. "The Archives in the Special Collection of the Zimmerman Library," Great Plains Journal, 11 (Spring 1972), 116-24. University of New Mexico at Albuquerque.

BUSINESS AND LABOR Kiser, George C. "Mexican American Labor before World War II," The Journal of Mexican American History, 2 (Spring 1972), 122-37.

Kolb, Harold. "Industrial Millstone," Idaho Yesterdays, 16 (Summer 1972), 2832. Western Federation of Miners, 1892-1911.

"Mill Creek Names," The Rambler [Wasatch Mountain Club], September 1972, pp. 5-6. "Leaves from the Old Wasatch" column, lists sawmills.

Partridge, Scott H. "The Failure of the Kirtland Safety Society," Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 437-54.

Sampson, D. Paul, and Larry T. Wimmer. "The Kirtland Safety Society: The Stock Ledger Book and the Bank Failure," Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 427-36.

Suggs, George G. "Religion and Labor in the Rocky Mountain West: Bishop Nicholas C. Matz and the Western Federation of Miners," Labor History, 11 (Spring 1970), 190-206.

CONSERVATION Bailey, Theodore N. "The Elusive Bobcat," Natural History, 81 (October 1972), 42-49. Reports a three-year study in southeastern Idaho.

Bakker, Elna. "The Many Faces of Desert: Dramatic Landscapes in the Great Southwest," The American West, 9 (September 1972), 19-27, 59.

Brandon, William. "Wild Horses of the West," Sierra Club Bulletin, 57 (September 1972), 4-10, 37.

Cart, Theodore W. "'New Deal' for Wildlife: A Perspective on Federal Conservation Policy, 1933-40," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 63 (July 1972), 113-20.

Hampton, H. Duane. "The Army and the National Parks," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, 22 (Summer 1972), 64-79.

Hunt, John Clark. "The Wild Horses: Running out of Time and Space in Their Race for Survival," Westways, 64 (September 1972), 24-29, 78-79.

Keck, Wendell M. "Forest Service Research Unit Completes 60 Years," Utah Farmer-Stockman, 92 (August 3, 1972), 14-15. Great Basin Experiment Station near Ephraim.

Lee, Lawrence B. "William Ellsworth Smythe and the Irrigation Movement: A Reconsideration," Pacific Historical Review, 41 (August 1972), 289-311.

McCloskey, Michael. "Wilderness Movement at the Crossroads, 1945-1970," Pacific Historical Review, 41 (August 1972), 346-61.

Otter, Andy A. Den. "Irrigation in Southern Alberta, 1882-1901," Great Plains journal, 11 (Spring 1972), 125-37. Includes Mormons.

Richardson, Elmo. "The Interior Secretary as Conservation Villain: The Notorious Case of Douglas 'Giveaway' McKay," Pacific Historical Review, 41 (August 1972), 333-45.

Staveley, Gaylord L. "Broken Waters Sing: Following Powell in Wooden Boats,' Enchanted Wilderness Bulletin, no. 6, September 1972, pp. 3-5. Green and Colorado rivers.

Articles and Notes

JQJ

Stegner, Wallace. "Thoughts in a Dry Land," Westways, 64 (September 1972), 15-19, 58. The western landscape, an address presented at Western Writers Conference, Logan, June 5-9.

Swain, Donald C. "The National Park Service and the New Deal, 1933-1940," Pacific Historical Review, 41 (August 1972), 312-32.

"Will They Fly No More?" Outlook: Utah State University, 4 (September 1972), 5. Gunnison Island pelicans.

EXPLORATION AND FUR TRADE Church, Patrick. "Jedediah Strong Smith; The Unconventional American Hero," The Pacific Historian, 16 (Fall 1972), 92-100.

Crampton, C. Gregory. "Spain and the Virgin [River]," Enchanted Wilderness Bulletin, no. 6, September 1972, pp. 7-9.

Garber, D. W. "Jedediah Strong Smith, Johnny Appleseed, and Tylertown," The Pacific Historian, 16 (Fall 1972), 47-59.

Goetzmann, William H. "The Grand Reconnaissance," American Heritage 23 (October 1972), 44-48, 92-95. Pacific railroad surveys of 1853.

Hayden, Willard C. "The Battle of Pierre's Hole," Idaho Yesterdays, 16 (Summer 1972), 2-11. Rendezvous of 1832 near Driggs, Idaho.

Miller, James. "Peter Skeen [sic] Ogden, Mighty Man of the Frontier; Big-time Operator, Friend of Indians, Man of Peace," The Pioneer, 19 (SeptemberOctober 1972), 16.

Pike, Donald G. Reconnoitering the Barrier: Early Spanish and American Exploration in the Rockies," The American West, 9 (September 1972), 28-33, 60.

Roylance, Ward J. "A Wilderness Odyssey; Or, A Look at 30 Years," Enchanted Wilderness Bulletin, no. 6, September 1972, pp. 10-11.

Selmeier, Lewis W. "First Camera on the Yellowstone a Century Ago," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, 22 (Summer 1972), 42-53. William Henry Jackson. Entire issue treats Yellowstone Park.

GOVERNMENT AND INDIANS Alexander, Thomas G. "Reed Smoot, the L.D.S. Church, and Progressive Legislation, 1903-1933," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7 (Spring 1972), 47-56. ' v i s Billings, Marjorie A., Gary Rockwood, and Carol Samuel. "Salt Lake County Voting Patterns [1964-70]," Utah Economic and Business Review, 32 (September 1972), 1-6, 9-10.

Egan, Ferol. "Victims of Justice: Tragedy at Carson City," The American West, 9 (September 1972), 43-47, 60. Incident leading to Paiute Indian War of 1860 in western Utah Territory.

Hickman, Martin B., and Ray C. Hillam. "J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: Political Isolationism Revisited," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7 (Spring 1972) 37-46.

Johnson, Charles W. "The Army and the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-42," Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives, 4 (Fall 1972), 139-56.

Stein, Gary C. "The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924," New Mexico Historical Review, 47 (July 1972), 257-74.

Unrau, William E. "The Civilian as Indian Agent: Villain or Victim?" The Western Historical Quarterly, 3 (October 1972), 405-20.

108

Utah Historical Quarterly

Wilcock, Keith D. "Utah's Peculiar Death Penalty," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7 (Summer 1972), 28-36.

HISTORIANS Arrington, Leonard J. "Joseph Fielding Smith: Faithful Historian." Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7 (Spring 1972), 21-24.

Clark, Thomas D. "Growing Up with the Frontier," The Western Historical Quarterly, 3 (October 1972), 361-72.

Haymond, Jay M. "Oral History Consortium," Utah History Research Bulletin, 1 (Fall 1972), 35.

"Nauvoo Research Historian in Residence Named," Saints Herald, 119 (October 1972), 57-58. One-year appointment of F. Mark McKiernan by Restoration Trail Foundation.

"Some Notes on the Selection of Transcribers." Oral History Association Newsletter, 6 (June 1972), 3.

HISTORIOGRAPHY Allen, James B., and Richard O. Cowan. "The Twentieth Century: Challenge for Mormon Historians," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7 (Spring 1972), 26-36.

Howard, Richard P. "The 'History of Joseph Smith' in Its Historical Setting,'' Part 3, Saints Herald, 119 (October 1972), 33. "Since Yesterday" column.

Nash, Roderick. "American Environmental History: A New Teaching Frontier," Pacific Historical Review, 41 (August 1972), 362-72.

Nichols, David A. "Civilization Over Savage: Frederick Jackson Turner and the Indian," South Dakota History, 2 (Fall 1972), 383-405.

Poll, Richard D. "God and Man in History," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7 (Spring 1972), 101-9.

Rakestraw, Lawrence. "Conservation Historiography: An Assessment," Pacific Historical Review, 41 (August 1972), 271-88. An introduction to a complete issue devoted to environmental history.

Taylor, Hugh A. "Clio in the Raw: Archival Materials and the Teaching of History," The American Archivist, 35 (July-October 1972), 317-30.

LITERATURE Edwards, Paul M. "The Sweet Singer of Israel: David Hyrum Smith," Courage: A Journal of History, Thought, and Action, 2 (Summer 1972), 481-91.

Reprinted from Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Winter 1972), 171-84.

Hutchinson, W. H. "The Remaking of the Amerind: A Dissenting Voice Raised against the Resurrection of the Myth of the Noble Savage," Westways, 64 (October 1972), 18-21.

R[ing], F[rances]. "West Fest," Westways, 64 (September 1972), 4, 6. Western Waiters Conference at Logan.

Savage, William W., Jr. "Western Literature and Its Myths: A Rejoinder," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, 22 (Autumn 1972), 78-81.

Smith, G. M. "In the House Where May Lived," Outlook: Utah State University, 4 (September 1972), 2-3. Utah-born poet May Swenson's Logan home.

Articles and Notes

109

MINING Beck, William O. "The Journeys of a Victorian Jason: Moreton Frewen's Western American Mining Investments, 1890-1896," Journal of the West, 11 (July 1972), 513-30. Includes interests in Utah mining.

Patterson, Edna B. "Thar's Gold in Them Hills," Parts 1 and 2, The Northeastern Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, 3 (Fall 1972), 2-17; Parts 3 and 4 (Winter 1972), 2-26. Treats Gold Acres and Boot Strap mines along the slopes of Robert's Mountain fault and the Carlin and Cortez gold mines.

Thompson, George. "Lost Spanish Mine?" Desert Magazine, 35 (October 1972), 16-18. West of Henefer, Utah. . "Utah's Dream Mine," Desert Magazine, 35 (September 1972), 12-14. Visions of John H. Koyle.

"Wasatch Mountain Personalities," The Rambler [Wasatch Mountain Club], November 1972, pp. 5-6. Indian Pete and Charles C. Collins.

RELIGION Arrington, Leonard J. "Oliver Cowdery's Kirtland, Ohio, 'Sketch Book,' " Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 410-26.

Backman, Milton V., Jr. "The Quest for a Restoration: The Birth of Mormonism in Ohio," Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 346-64.

Bitton, Davis. "The Waning of Mormon Kirtland," Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 455-64.

Blair, A. R. "The Haun's Mill Massacre," Courage: A Journal of History, Thought, and Action, 2 (Summer 1972), 502-7.

Dees, Harry C. "The Jounal of George W. Bean: Las Vegas Springs, New Mexico Territory, 1856-1857," Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, 15 (Fall 1972), 3-29. Mormon missionary among the Indians.

Flake, Gerry R. "Mormons in Mexico: The First 96 Years," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2 (September 1972), 20-21.

Hansen, Terrence L. "The Church in Central America," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2 (September 1972), 40-42.

Jessee, Dean C. "The Kirtland Diary of Wilford Woodruff," Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 365-99.

Payne, Jaynann. "Lucy Mack Smith: Woman of Great Faith," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2 (November 1972), 68-74. Biographical.

Petersen, Lauritz G. "The Kirtland Temple," Brigham Young University Studies, 12 (Summer 1972), 400-409.

Smiley, Winn Whiting. "Ammon M. Tenney: Mormon Missionaiy to the Indians," The Journal of Arizona History, 13 (Summer 1972), 82-108.

"William Smith's Acknowledgment of James J. Strang's Claims [1846]," and "Testimony of Katharine Salisbury [1899]," Courage: A Journal of History, Thought, and Action, 2 (Summer 1972), 539-40. Documents reprinted from Strang's Voree Herald, July 1846, and Saints' Herald, April 26. 1899.

SETTLEMENT Allred, Harvey R. "Pioneer Memories of Star Valley [Wyoming]," The Pioneer, 19 (November-December 1972), 13-14.

Dunyon, Joy F. "East Mill Creek History, Part 5: 'Old Mill Stream' Once Center of Booming Business," The Pioneer, 19 (September-October 1972), 12.

HO

Utah Historical Quarterly

Hatch, E. LeRoy. "Mormon Colonies: Beacon Light in Mexico," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2 (September 1972), 22-25.

Includes early photographs.

Lehr, J. "Mormon Settlement Morphology in Southern Alberta," The Albertan Geographer, 8 (1972), 6-13.

Starry, Roberta M. "Discover Panaca," Desert Magazine, 35 (November 1972), 8-10. Nevada town settled by Mormons.

SOCIETY AND THE ARTS Bearnson, Dorothy. "Utah Designer Craftsmen," Utah Artisan, 1 (March-April 1972), 6. Brief history of the group organized May 1961.

Carroll, Richard L. "Satchmo, Salt Lake, and the Summer of '47," Westways, 64 (November 1972), 52-54, 79. Louis Armstrong.

Dykes, Jeff. "On the Trail of the Western Illustrators." The Westerners New York Posse Brand Book, 19, no. 2 (1972), 30-31, 38-39.

"Face of the Prophet: Known or Unknown?" Brigham Young University Today, 26 (September 1972), 6. Sculpture of Joseph Smith, Jr., by Gary E. Smith.

Hansen, Klaus J. "The Millennium, the West, and Race in the Antebellum American Mind," The Western Historical Quarterly, 3 (October 1972), 373-90.

Smith, Martha, and Harold H. Jenson. "Remember the Old Lyric [Theatre]?"

The Pioneer, 19 (November-December 1972), 17.

[Stegner, Wallace.] "Author Wallace Stegner Gives Commencement Address," Outlook: Utah State University, 3 (June 1972), 2. Excerpts from Stegner's discussion of today's world as a mixture of tradition and innovation.

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION Jackson, W. Turrentine. "Wells Fargo's Pony Expresses," Journal of the West, 11 (July 1972), 405-36. . "Wells Fargo: Symbol of the Wild West?" The Western Historical Quarterly, 3 (April 1972), 179-96.

Murray, Herbert F. "A Half Century of Broadcasting in the Church," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2 (August 1972), 48-51.

KSL Radio and the Bonneville International Corp. network.

Ronzio, Richard. "Jay Gould, the Great Railroad Financier," The Denver Westerners Roundup, 28 (June 1972), 3-18.

"The Secret of Hogum Fork," The Rambler [Wasatch Mountain Club], October 1972, pp. 6-7. Plane crash in Alpine Canyon, 1936.

WESTWARD MOVEMENT Kiefer, David M., ed. "Over Plains and Rock-bound Mountains," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, 22 (Autumn 1972), 16-29. Overland journey of Adam Mercer Brown in 1850 includes a week's stay near Salt Lake City.

Kimball, Stanley B. "The Iowa Trek of 1846: The Brigham Young Route from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2 (June 1972), 36-45. Campsites for each day of the trek are marked on a map.

Kramer, William M., ed. "The Western Journal of Isaac Mayer Wise," Part 3, Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly, 5 (October 1972), 40-56.

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HISTORICAL NOTES The diary of Jacob Bushman of Lehi, discovered inside a wall of a home being demolished, has been given to the Utah State Historical Society library.

The diary covers the years 1871 and 1879-81. The library has also recently acquired Irrigation Age, 1897-1917, on seven rolls of microfilm.

Professor Gustive O. Larson of Brigham Young University, a Fellow of the Utah State Historical Society since 1964, has received a two-month research grant from the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery at San Marino, California, to continue his study of Mormon immigration.

The program committee is inviting proposals for papers on "historical backgrounds for Far Western agriculture" for the University of California Davis Campus Symposium on Agriculture in the Development of the Far West to be held June 19-21, 1974. Participants from nonacademic public and private institutions are especially being sought. Recommendations may be sent to James H. Shideler, Agricultural History Center, University of California, Davis, California 95616.

Biographical material, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to Reva Beck Bosone, who served in the House of Representatives from Utah, 1949-53, have been deposited in the American Fork Library's Dena S. Grant Historical Records Room.

The Archives Branch, Denver Federal Records Center, has recently added twenty-eight cubic feet of records of the Denver Branch Mint and Assay Office, 1863-1940. The mint's functions during early years were limited to assaying, smelting, and refining of precious metals from the Rocky Mountain region; no coins were struck until 1906.

The Ezra Taft Benson papers, 1952-61, are now available on thirty reels of microfilm at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas. Documents pertaining to his duties as secretary of agriculture include correspondence, agenda and notes for cabinet and staff meetings, and administrative records.

These records treat soil and water conservation, drought, livestock prices, surplus commodities, school lunch programs, rural electrification, and departmental reorganization. Benson's correspondence with Republican party leaders, admin-

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istration officials, and the public relates to the politics of farm policy, campaign strategies, and speaking engagements. Some of the material reflects personal and family concerns and Benson's associations with the Boy Scouts and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A quarterly feature, "Genealogy Notes," has been introduced in Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives beginning with the Winter 1973 issue.

James D. Walker, genealogy and local history specialist with the National Archives, edits the section. Readers may write to Walker with questions about genealogical research in federal records.

Two new collections of personal papers have been deposited at Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah. The library has received the first of the papers of former Congressman Sherman P. Lloyd and a variety of papers and miscellaneous books of A. R. Mortensen, chief historian of the National Park Service. Dr. Mortensen is a former director of the Utah State Historical Society and was professor of history at the university prior to his Washington appointment. Additional materials have been contributed to the Maud May Babcock and J. Bracken Lee collections. Professor Babcock promoted dramatics at the university, and Mr. Lee is both a former governor of Utah and a former mayor of Salt Lake City. Western Americana has also acquired an 1858 letter of Brigham Young to George Q. Cannon announcing the latter's apostleship and several issues of the Nauvoo Neighbor, including the July 3, 1844, issue announcing the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION

The Utah Historical Quarterly is published quarterly by the Utah State Historical Society, 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. The editor is Melvin T. Smith, the managing editor is Glen M. Leonard, and the assistant editor is Miriam B. Murphy with offices at the same address as the publisher. The magazine is owned by the Utah State Historical Society, and no individual or company owns or holds any bonds, mortgages, or other securities of the Society or its magazine.

The purposes, function, and non-profit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes have not changed during the preceding twelve months.

The following figures are the average number of copies of each issue during the preceding twelve months: 3,500 copies printed; no paid circulation; 2,318 mail subscriptions; 2,318 total paid circulation; 110 free distribution (including samples) by mail, carrier, or other means; 2,428 total distribution; 1,072 inventory for office use, leftover, unaccounted, spoiled after printing; total 3,500. The following figures are the actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 3,800 copies printed; no paid circulation; 2,464 mail subscription; 2,464 total paid circulation; 110 free distribution (including samples) by mail, carrier, or other means; 2,574 total distribution; 1,226 inventory for office use, leftover, unaccounted, spoiled after printing; total 3,800.

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UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY D i v i s i o n of D e p a r t m e n t of D e v e l o p m e n t S e r v i c e s BOARD

O F STATE

HISTORY

M I L T O N C. A B R A M S , Smithfield,

1977

President D E L L O G. D A Y T O N , O g d e n , 1975

Vice President M E L V I N T . S M I T H , Salt Lake City Secretary MRS.

J U A N I T A B R O O K S , St. George, 1977

M R S . A. C. J E N S E N , Sandy, 1975 T H E R O N L U K E , Provo, 1975

CLYDE L. M I L L E R , Secretary of State

Ex officio M R S . H E L E N Z. PAPANIKOLAS, Salt Lake City, 1977 H O W A R D C. P R I C E , Jr., Price, 1975 MRS.

E L I Z A B E T H S K A N C H Y , Midvale, 1977

R I C H A R D O . ULIBARRI, Roy, 1977

M R S . NAOMI WOOLLEY, Salt Lake City, 1975

ADMINISTRATION MELVIN T. SMITH,

Director

G L E N M . LEONARD, Publications JAY M. HAVMOND, Librarian IRIS SCOTT, Business Manager

Coordinator

T h e U t a h State Historical Society was organized in 1897 by public-spirited Utahns to collect, preserve, and publish U t a h and related history. Today, under state sponsorship, the Society fulfills its obligations by publishing the Utah Historical Quarterly and other historical materials; locating and documenting historic buildings and sites; and maintaining a specialized research library. Donations and gifts to the Society's programs or its library are encouraged, for only through such means can it live u p to its responsibility of preserving the record of Utah's past.

MEMBERSHIP Membership in the U t a h State Historical Society is open to all individuals and institutions interested in U t a h history.

Annual membership dues a r e : institutions, $7.00: individuals, $5.00: students, $3.00.

Life memberships, $100.00. Tax-deductible donations for special projects of the Society may be made on the following membership basis: sustaining, $250.00: patron, $500.00; benefactor, $1,000.00. Your interest and support are most welcome.

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